Its been 4 days now since the ghastly terror attacks began. Absolutely all news channels covered the tragedy 24/7 without a commercial break. The entire country watched non-stop and almost even bragged about how they have been following the events diligently.

My eyes are now on the clock. I'm wondering how long it will be before everything returns back to normal and we forget all the angst and the anger and get absorbed in our daily humdrum again. I am wondering because the past says this is what happens all the time.

Every time there is a national calamity, India suddenly comes together and makes empty promises of doing something about it, about not letting things go by easily. Every time disaster hits the nation, media takes the mantle to lead the show but then looses track almost immediately. Every time we are faced with tragedy, we talk and then we forget.

Will we do the same this time around as well? Will we continue living helplessly and will we continue the numb existence even now? I know we will all say NO right now because the anger is alive right now. Right now we are all enraged/ aggrieved and hurt. Right now we all feel for what has happened and therefore right now, we all want to do something.

But change doesn't happen over night, does it? Revolutions don't come about just like that. Such things require time and slow and steady working. Such things require long term unity, diligence and patience. So now I ask us again, are we going to do anything about this? Do we have it in us to bring about the change and the revolution that is actually required?

Chances are we will all wonder "But what can we do?". Well I think there are things we can do - small things but meaningful things, things that will bring about a change slowly but surely.

We can all start with NOT FORGETTING what has just happened. We should NOT let this angst, this anger fizzle out. We should not fall prey to our own weakness of "going with the flow" this time around. Why should only those who have suffered be the only ones to remember this? Do we also have to go through a personal loss to then remember tragedies like these?

I think not. Enough has happened for us to keep this alive. Only if we keep this memory alive, will we be resolute about making India a better and a safer place to live in. Only if we remember all those innocent lives taken in this brutal act of terrorism, will we want to be a part of the slow revolution that is sure to take place.

So remember we must and to make sure we do that, I for one will try and write as much and as often on this forum as possible. I am not expecting any of us to dedicate our lives to this cause - we are not Gandhis - but we surely can spare half an hour or so thinking about this everyday.

I will make sure I don't let this die inside me and I hope others agree with me and do the same.

I will continue writing on http://thejarbag.blogspot.com/ and request everyone to pour their thoughts as well on the platform. Today, we have the power of the Web - lets make the RIGHT use of it. It is not in vain when they say "Together we CAN make a difference". Like every drop counts, every thought counts and maybe thought after thought from our collective thinking will lead to something, someday.

A true Tribute - Tears and Fears or a real Awakening?

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.

Cut the emotional crap

60 long hours. Possibly the 60 longest hours for many. And a whole nation struck numb.

This seems to be the reality of the worst terror attacks of the century ever. Top cops have laid their lives, hundreds of innocent people have died, hundreds of families broken, children orphaned and millions right now feeling emotional and enraged.

Stories are frantically being filed on the web world about traumatic experiences of those who suffered and those who saw others suffer. News papers are filled with possible anecdotes of the survivors and those who spent long hours in anticipation of their probable end.

I am sitting in Bangalore and only being able to watch TV and read the papers to know whats happening to my own people in Mumbai. My younger brother lives in Colaba and frequents Leopold often. He is safe. I am happy but I am not relieved. My blood froze when the papers detailed out Sabina's last sms to her husband that read "they are in my bath room".

With no exaggeration, I had tears in my eyes when I read that one of the Taj interns was shot down by the terrorist who had been imposing as an intern at the hotel for the last few months. The words of this dying young boy to his family over the phone were "my friend has shot me".

My heart filled with pride not only when the brave men in uniform went into the clutches of death only to do their duty but also when an ordinary white collared Taj GM did his duty all the while his own family was burning to death.

There are and will be hundreds of spine chilling stories that will be the only remnants of this tragedy, which in itself is a tragedy. Yes, we need to KNOW what has happened but there is more we also need to FEEL about what has happened.

Getting emotional and praying for those who lost their lives and their worlds is weak. Lighting candles and maintaining 2 minutes silence if superficial. Praising Mumbai and its spirit for not having altered their course of life despite facing the most beastly attack on humanity is expected.

But is this all we are capable of doing? Is there nothing else we feel or are capable of feeling?

Like all others, I am not sure what I am supposed to feel when I hear on TV that there is unfinished dinner still on plates of dead diners in the ruins of Taj, that the floors are filled with blood and that they still cannot ascertain the number of casualties.

I am not sure how I am supposed to react when I realize that the brave Unnikrishnan was actually in the same school as I and that I was in 9th when he was the house captain and as a junior, I had looked up to him and hoped that one day even I would become the school captain too.

I don't know how to react to such piece of information but I do know that I feel something, something more than just sympathy and pity.

Look at these pictures (http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2008/11/mumbai_under_attack.html) and tell me if I am wrong in feeling anger. Tell me if I am wrong in feeling that we all need to do something about this. Tell me if I am wrong in realizing the futility of our own lives when we face something as abominable as this and yet are helpless?

This is as close as we can get to the feared clutches of terrorism and even if this does not move us in wanting to stand united against terrorism, then possibly nothing will.

And yes, that brings us to, what can we do? We - the educated, sensible, thinking individuals that comprise the minority of the society, we who have decided to live in sanitized environments, we who have so far been FEELING for various atrocious attacks being made on mankind but we who have so far done nothing.

What can we do? I think, to begin with, lets stop getting emotional and start thinking rational. Ask ourselves, do we deserve democracy? Do we deserve to be ruled by uneducated third rate gundas? Well, if no, then lets stand together and demand for a Military rule that is not governed by any party, any religion or any caste.

A Military rule might make our lives a bit less exciting and fun but it will at least make our lives safer. Military rule might impose strict rules and laws on the lives of the affluent, but it will make the lives of less fortunate safer. Don't we want that? Are we so selfish that we cannot see the pain and trauma that "they" go through?

The men in uniform have proven time and again that they are only ones worth trusting our lives with. Whether it be Kargil or Mumbai, the men in uniform have risked their lives for our peace. And men who can do that are men we should trust. Not our opportunistic politicians who leave no situation un-touched, how ever grave it might be.

I shudder to think that maybe LK Advani will be our next PM and its is SHAMEFUL for me to be ruled by a man who is solely responsible for Babri Masjid and its aftermath till date. It is SHAMEFUL for me to know that either I don't vote or vote mindlessly. It is SHAMEFUL for me to face the fact that despite all the progress, we the thinking individuals place such little thought in the matters of our country.

I want to do something about this. I want to be a part of making India safer for the 'aam junta'. I want Military Rule imposed for the next 1 year, because to my mind that seems to be the only solution.