Like the whole country, I have been glued to the TV from the time the traumatic saga started. Like the whole country, my heart bled for all the innocent lives that were lost in this savage act of inhumanity. And like the whole country, today, I am feeling not only proud but also thankful to our men in uniform for risking their lives for our safety.
But I am not sure if I am with the a lot of the country in the "show of sympathy" that actually is a "show of apathy".
I woke up this morning to realize that Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan was in the same school as I was and I in fact, remember seeing him in school. There was a grand report from our principal about how Sandeep was an outstanding student, an all rounder and someone to be proud of.
Immediately various ex-students started sending messages to each other to hold a payer service for the brave soul. Suddenly, there have been calls to and fro asking each other if they really remember Sandeep from school. Suddenly, there are conversations about how "i knew him" and "we did this" and "we did that".
What is wrong with us? Are we so pathetic that we latch on to anything for our 2 minutes of fame amongst our own peers?
In the last 10 years of me having left my school, any conversation around school has only been around Lara Dutta but never around anyone who might have joined the army because he was driven by patriotism. It is true that it takes death for most of us to remember a person and appreciate his worth but does this also mean that we count on such deaths to feel important about ourselves?
Can we, for a minute, give a thought to the nature of this death? This brave man fought terrorists face to face, took bullets in his body and saved his colleague's life before he gave his own. Such a death does not need sympathies for the martyr but requires an awakening for the cause.
Major Sandeep had wanted to fight for his country from the time he was a child. Major Sandeep had wanted to contribute to this country. Major Sandeep had been ready to give up his family and pleasures of young age to do something extra ordinary that 99% of us do not have the courage to even dream of.
Major Sandeep does not need our sympathies. Major Sandeep needs our support for the cause that he fought for and died for.
As does Mr. Hemant Karkare who also laid his life for the safety of all ours. It is scary to know that the head of ATS is no more, scary to realize that the brain behind ATS is no more and scary to imagine what might happen to all the progress he had made in the other terror attacks so far.
But there is no point being scared of what might happen and watching TV all day as mark of homage to the dead. Is this all we can do? Everyone has been asking on various forums about what can we do?
Well, there is substantial amount of stuff we can do!
For one, we can ensure that the media and the authorities do not forget the ATS Chief's un-finished work and compel them to continue his work and finish it with the same honesty and diligence that Mr. Hemant Karkare had been doing it till now. We must ensure that we do not let the authorities drop investigations behind the Malegaon blasts and let the corrupt and sick minded politicians win and benefit from this martyr's death.
Mrs. Karkare had expressed her anger with BJP and rightfully so. We can support her by not supporting such political elements that give rise to communal hatred.
I don't even know if Mr. Hemant Karkare fell prey to the terrorists or to an opportunistic political ploy where maybe, someone else killed him at the right time and at the right place. After all, he was being given death threats and was being condoned by Advani and the likes.
Just in case this might have been the reality, who's responsibility would it be to get justice? I usually don't imagine the regular junta to have the time, patience or inclination in matters as these but I also know that if we put our minds to it, we can get justice done.
After all, it was the 'aam junta' that got together after years of Jessica Lal's killing and got her real justice. So can we not get together for this, unite to fight against terror for our own safety, by ensuring that we create enough noise and pressure for the authorities to do only the right thing from now on?
Brave men have died in Mumbai. Brave men had died in Kargil. Brave men die every second day on the border. We might not be brave enough to give our lives but we can be human enough to give little time, little thought and a conscious effort towards this cause. We can keep these memories alive and make sure we do not take our eyes off from what the authorities are doing and ensure we are a part of a better India, a safer India.
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About Me
- Apeksha
- I do not have a one-liner for myself and writing anything more than a line here would amount to vanity and/ or boredom. Best left unsaid, even though I've already said so much.
2 comments:
Over the last two days, I have met and spoken to so many people who are all for bringing about a change. The general feeling is - we want to but don't know exactly how.
I think it will be a good idea to keep everyone we know informed about what possible suggestions are coming up, and build an opinion. For example, there seems to be some talk of a peach march to Gateway Of India on 3rd Dec, in protest of terrorism and lack of political will. I hope it materializes. I'm sure similar things can be done in many other cities, in many other ways.
I really like what you said about keeping these memories alive.
I hope nobody forgets what happened and nobody expects Mumbai to bounce back and pretend everything is fine! Because if we do that, we're only going to give them a chance to do this to us again.
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