first reaction...

As news channels gave yet another "breaking news", this time of a gang war in south mumbai, i thought,wtf,mostly because that is the only place i go to in mumbai.i slept on the thought that if i were to be in a place where my dying was eminent,would i get a flashback and if i did , what would i see.as i got up today, i read the newspaper headline which read 100 injured in mumbai terror attack. thats fuckin different from a gangwar i thought.switching on the TV introduced me to a completely new entity, the deccan mujhahideen.i should have seen that coming. this is india after all, new day ,new insurgent.
i remember, growing up as an army kid, going to kashmir often as my dad was posted there. those fortified cantonments, the curfews, the kupwaras and handwaras, the rajwar sectors and the lolab valleys,LeTs and HMs and the rule of the gun. how ironic, for it wasn't quite the paradise on earth the print media called it then. terrorism in india was always more concentrated in certain regions. in the 80s it was punjab then from the 90s till now, kashmir burnt and still does and the ULFA exercised terror in assam on and off, but it was nothing like it is now. from bangalore to jaipur to ahmedabad we have taken hits. the very essence of our safety is under threat.from india's polital capital to its smallest town to its financial hub, the insecurity is growing every where.
2008 has not been india's best year and that is a huge understatement. sensex fell from 21k to 9k, petrol became more of a luxury,political unrest was witnessed throughout, in the east rebellion grew, from a man wanting the manoos to come of age to the flag bearers of the gorkhaland, there was anarchy everywhere.india's finest organisation the indian army hung its head in shame as india got its first serving arming officer to be arrested on terror charges. and then there was the saffron brigade trying to shield the sandhvi from investigation. thank god we didnt have any riots this year.
the british national lottery has 'it could be you' as its tagline and that very well is the case with terror in india. and for that reason alone we ought to be asking questions. why are the intelligence agencies so pathetically lacking in effectiveness? why dont we find out who hit us the last time? why do we not hit back, those who hit us? why are we always reactive and never pro active? as the national elections come closer, those are the questions atleast id like to ask the elected people.voting is gonna be another dilemma. which one of the the two losers, that'll be the big question.well thats another story for another time. but what this moment in time calls for us to do is to stop heeding gandhi's advice of turning the other cheek. i believe tony blair said it best while standing on the steps of 10 downing street on taking office" enough of talking - it is time now to do".