{"id":3016,"date":"2011-11-28T08:39:36","date_gmt":"2011-11-28T03:09:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/calamur.org\/gargi\/?p=3016"},"modified":"2011-11-28T08:39:36","modified_gmt":"2011-11-28T03:09:36","slug":"three-years-on-2611-has-been-reduced-to-just-another-ritual","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/calamur.org\/gargi\/2011\/11\/28\/three-years-on-2611-has-been-reduced-to-just-another-ritual\/","title":{"rendered":"Three years on, 26\/11 has been reduced to just another ritual"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>My column in today&#8217;s <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.dnaindia.com\/analysis\/column_three-years-on-26-11-has-been-reduced-to-just-another-ritual_1618282\">DNA <\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>26\/11. A day three years ago, when the average Mumbaikar\u2019s sense of relative security was ripped out.<\/p>\n<p>It isn\u2019t that Mumbai was a haven of security and peace. Quite the contrary. The last two decades had been quite traumatic for the city of dreams. First came the gang wars, followed by the riots and then by bomb blasts s in the first few years of the 1990s. This had an impact on \u00a0the fabric of the city, and its psyche went through trauma that was best associated with other places Then came the sporadic bomb blasts \u2013 targeting trains, buses, inflicting death, damage and fear\u00a0 on a population that was on the move, trying to create a better life for itself and its families. Yet the city plodded on. Then came the floods \u2013 a random cloudburst that shook the city up. You still see the aftermath of that incident. A heavy downpour and half of Mumbai seems to be indoors. And, then came 26\/11. Possibly, the most traumatic of the lot. Not because it happened in the elite areas of Mumbai. Not even because of the toll, but because the enemy \u2013 and let\u2019s not mince words about who they were \u2013 were able to sneak into our city with the utmost ease, and unleash carnage, while all that we could do was wait and watch. That they were able to do this in multiple locations including trains stations, hospitals and hotels with ease makes one feel even less secure. The kind of impotence and paralysis associated with the four days of bloodbath was without parallel. An elite, highly indoctrinated, professionally trained, well-armed killer squad landed in your city, your country, and killed, and killed and killed \u2013 and there was no way to stop them.<\/p>\n<p>Three years down the line, what is 26\/11 signify. Like much else in this country \u2013 a ritual. A ritual where we take out old candles and light them, a ritual in which we send a file to Pakistan to ask for justice, a ritual in which television anchors, newspaper editors and intelligentsia pontificate on what was, what should be and what isn\u2019t. 26\/11 has become a ritual. A ritual like all others. Garlands, flowers, candles, meaningless words \u2013 but have we really learnt ?<\/p>\n<p>The primary goal of the state is to keep its citizens secure. And, to ensure this security forces have to be well staffed, well trained, well armed, well coordinated.\u00a0 Mumbai, three years after 26\/11, faces a 40 per cent shortage of police personnel. There simply aren\u2019t enough police to take care of\u00a0 law and order, let alone a terror attack. The remaining anti-terror infrastructure promised in the aftermath of the 26\/11 attacks is still in the distant horizon. There is no political party asking why jobs are not being filled \u2013 by locals or otherwise. There is no <em>rath yatra<\/em> highlighting the miserable state of security across the nation, and there is no activism on keeping citizens secure. While it may be impossible to prevent terror attacks 100% of the time, it shouldn\u2019t be this easy for the enemy to get through the gates.<\/p>\n<p>The response of the Americans and the Europeans to terror attacks on their territory was all party consensus on\u00a0 the way forward. Can you see our politicians, our civil society, our citizens coming together on anything? If the Congress proposes something, the BJP has to oppose and vice versa. Everything is a party political issue. Everything is geared towards capturing the headlines. And, political capital is sought to be built on every little aspect of Governance \u2013 be it FDI or security. National Interest takes a back seat in this political edition of Tom and Jerry. What politicians seem to forget is that while Tom and Jerry is fun to watch, does one\u00a0 really want them in charge of the Nation?<\/p>\n<p>And Finally, Everyone knows where the terrorists came from. Everyone knows who funded them, trained them and deployed them. They also know that these weren\u2019t non-state actors but a State itself. So why does India persist in this delusion of \u2018we need to be friends\u2019 with Pakistan. They aren\u2019t our friends. They never have been. There doesn\u2019t have to be a logical, understandable reason for their visceral hatred towards India. What there has to be is an appreciation on the Indian side, that some people just want to see your country burn. And those people are not hidden away in caves in the Hindukush mountains, but are within the Government of Pakistan.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>My column in today&#8217;s DNA 26\/11. A day three years ago, when the average Mumbaikar\u2019s sense of relative security was ripped out. It isn\u2019t that Mumbai was a haven of security and peace. Quite the contrary. The last two decades had been&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[10,23,28,32,3,43],"tags":[76,755,1093,1208],"class_list":["post-3016","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles-in-msm","category-india","category-mumbai","category-pakistan","category-politics","category-terror","tag-76","tag-india","tag-mumbai-attacks","tag-pakistan"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Three years on, 26\/11 has been reduced to just another ritual - A PoV<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/calamur.org\/gargi\/2011\/11\/28\/three-years-on-2611-has-been-reduced-to-just-another-ritual\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Three years on, 26\/11 has been reduced to just another ritual - A PoV\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"My column in today&#8217;s DNA 26\/11. A day three years ago, when the average Mumbaikar\u2019s sense of relative security was ripped out. It isn\u2019t that Mumbai was a haven of security and peace. Quite the contrary. The last two decades had been...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/calamur.org\/gargi\/2011\/11\/28\/three-years-on-2611-has-been-reduced-to-just-another-ritual\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"A PoV\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-11-28T03:09:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@calamur\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@calamur\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/calamur.org\\\/gargi\\\/2011\\\/11\\\/28\\\/three-years-on-2611-has-been-reduced-to-just-another-ritual\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/calamur.org\\\/gargi\\\/2011\\\/11\\\/28\\\/three-years-on-2611-has-been-reduced-to-just-another-ritual\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\",\"@id\":\"\"},\"headline\":\"Three years on, 26\\\/11 has been reduced to just another ritual\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-11-28T03:09:36+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/calamur.org\\\/gargi\\\/2011\\\/11\\\/28\\\/three-years-on-2611-has-been-reduced-to-just-another-ritual\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":767,\"commentCount\":1,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/calamur.org\\\/gargi\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/60c3e7f79ef3b4745dac9f8dc29d3938\"},\"keywords\":[\"26\\\/11\",\"India\",\"Mumbai Attacks\",\"Pakistan\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Articles\",\"India\",\"Mumbai\",\"Pakistan\",\"Politics\",\"terror\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/calamur.org\\\/gargi\\\/2011\\\/11\\\/28\\\/three-years-on-2611-has-been-reduced-to-just-another-ritual\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/calamur.org\\\/gargi\\\/2011\\\/11\\\/28\\\/three-years-on-2611-has-been-reduced-to-just-another-ritual\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/calamur.org\\\/gargi\\\/2011\\\/11\\\/28\\\/three-years-on-2611-has-been-reduced-to-just-another-ritual\\\/\",\"name\":\"Three years on, 26\\\/11 has been reduced to just another ritual - A PoV\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/calamur.org\\\/gargi\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2011-11-28T03:09:36+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/calamur.org\\\/gargi\\\/2011\\\/11\\\/28\\\/three-years-on-2611-has-been-reduced-to-just-another-ritual\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/calamur.org\\\/gargi\\\/2011\\\/11\\\/28\\\/three-years-on-2611-has-been-reduced-to-just-another-ritual\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/calamur.org\\\/gargi\\\/2011\\\/11\\\/28\\\/three-years-on-2611-has-been-reduced-to-just-another-ritual\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/calamur.org\\\/gargi\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Three years on, 26\\\/11 has been reduced to just another ritual\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/calamur.org\\\/gargi\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/calamur.org\\\/gargi\\\/\",\"name\":\"A PoV\",\"description\":\"Harini Calamur&#039;s Writings\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/calamur.org\\\/gargi\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/60c3e7f79ef3b4745dac9f8dc29d3938\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/calamur.org\\\/gargi\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":[\"Person\",\"Organization\"],\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/calamur.org\\\/gargi\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/60c3e7f79ef3b4745dac9f8dc29d3938\",\"name\":\"calamur\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/f8df2f7268afd0d54952b80930a504251ec3e1609cb7cd609351520060f6006e?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/f8df2f7268afd0d54952b80930a504251ec3e1609cb7cd609351520060f6006e?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/f8df2f7268afd0d54952b80930a504251ec3e1609cb7cd609351520060f6006e?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"calamur\"},\"logo\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/f8df2f7268afd0d54952b80930a504251ec3e1609cb7cd609351520060f6006e?s=96&d=mm&r=g\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Three years on, 26\/11 has been reduced to just another ritual - A PoV","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/calamur.org\/gargi\/2011\/11\/28\/three-years-on-2611-has-been-reduced-to-just-another-ritual\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Three years on, 26\/11 has been reduced to just another ritual - A PoV","og_description":"My column in today&#8217;s DNA 26\/11. A day three years ago, when the average Mumbaikar\u2019s sense of relative security was ripped out. It isn\u2019t that Mumbai was a haven of security and peace. Quite the contrary. The last two decades had been...","og_url":"https:\/\/calamur.org\/gargi\/2011\/11\/28\/three-years-on-2611-has-been-reduced-to-just-another-ritual\/","og_site_name":"A PoV","article_published_time":"2011-11-28T03:09:36+00:00","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@calamur","twitter_site":"@calamur","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/calamur.org\/gargi\/2011\/11\/28\/three-years-on-2611-has-been-reduced-to-just-another-ritual\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/calamur.org\/gargi\/2011\/11\/28\/three-years-on-2611-has-been-reduced-to-just-another-ritual\/"},"author":{"name":"","@id":""},"headline":"Three years on, 26\/11 has been reduced to just another ritual","datePublished":"2011-11-28T03:09:36+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/calamur.org\/gargi\/2011\/11\/28\/three-years-on-2611-has-been-reduced-to-just-another-ritual\/"},"wordCount":767,"commentCount":1,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/calamur.org\/gargi\/#\/schema\/person\/60c3e7f79ef3b4745dac9f8dc29d3938"},"keywords":["26\/11","India","Mumbai Attacks","Pakistan"],"articleSection":["Articles","India","Mumbai","Pakistan","Politics","terror"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/calamur.org\/gargi\/2011\/11\/28\/three-years-on-2611-has-been-reduced-to-just-another-ritual\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/calamur.org\/gargi\/2011\/11\/28\/three-years-on-2611-has-been-reduced-to-just-another-ritual\/","url":"https:\/\/calamur.org\/gargi\/2011\/11\/28\/three-years-on-2611-has-been-reduced-to-just-another-ritual\/","name":"Three years on, 26\/11 has been reduced to just another ritual - A PoV","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/calamur.org\/gargi\/#website"},"datePublished":"2011-11-28T03:09:36+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/calamur.org\/gargi\/2011\/11\/28\/three-years-on-2611-has-been-reduced-to-just-another-ritual\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/calamur.org\/gargi\/2011\/11\/28\/three-years-on-2611-has-been-reduced-to-just-another-ritual\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/calamur.org\/gargi\/2011\/11\/28\/three-years-on-2611-has-been-reduced-to-just-another-ritual\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/calamur.org\/gargi\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Three years on, 26\/11 has been reduced to just another ritual"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/calamur.org\/gargi\/#website","url":"https:\/\/calamur.org\/gargi\/","name":"A PoV","description":"Harini Calamur&#039;s Writings","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/calamur.org\/gargi\/#\/schema\/person\/60c3e7f79ef3b4745dac9f8dc29d3938"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/calamur.org\/gargi\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":["Person","Organization"],"@id":"https:\/\/calamur.org\/gargi\/#\/schema\/person\/60c3e7f79ef3b4745dac9f8dc29d3938","name":"calamur","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f8df2f7268afd0d54952b80930a504251ec3e1609cb7cd609351520060f6006e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f8df2f7268afd0d54952b80930a504251ec3e1609cb7cd609351520060f6006e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f8df2f7268afd0d54952b80930a504251ec3e1609cb7cd609351520060f6006e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"calamur"},"logo":{"@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f8df2f7268afd0d54952b80930a504251ec3e1609cb7cd609351520060f6006e?s=96&d=mm&r=g"}}]}},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p22F9v-ME","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/calamur.org\/gargi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3016","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/calamur.org\/gargi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/calamur.org\/gargi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/calamur.org\/gargi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3016"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/calamur.org\/gargi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3016\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/calamur.org\/gargi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3016"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/calamur.org\/gargi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3016"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/calamur.org\/gargi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3016"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}