Kartikey Sehgal

[The author visits the sites affected by terror and meets a Naval Officer.]

More about the incident: One, Two, Three

“I could hear the blasts all night long. I shut the windows and bolted the doors. After all, they had just passed the lanes near my home. They could have come to this building and taken entire residents as hostages.”

She is the wife of an Indian Naval Commander who missed her husband on the night terrorists attacked Mumbai at various places.

Her home falls on the route that the terrorists may have taken on their route to the Taj and café Leopold. Her husband is candid about the public outrage about the attacks.

“Just because it’s the Taj,” he pauses and adds calmly, “had it been just the C.S.T, the public would have reacted softly.”

He is fortunate that the unarmed building guard was not sighted and attacked by the gunmen. As I stepped into the building, the guard stopped me for inspection. He was wearing a bullet-proof jacket and carrying a loaded machine gun. His name is Surya Pratap Singh.

“I was given the jacket and the gun after the Taj Mahal and Trident-Oberoi siege. Earlier, I stood guard without a revolver.”

Surya Pratap is determined as he tells me about his anger. “How long will we see this madness? The people will protest today and tomorrow, politicians will start dividing the people on regional and religious grounds.”

Surya Pratap is despondent about politicians.
“We must attack the militant camps in Pakistan.”

A Police guard stopped me from going near hotel Taj Mahal.
“The President is coming.”

I waded through the traffic and felt that I am a better person to be near this iconic structure than any politician.  

Fortunately, the President had spared Oberoi-Trident any such embarrassment and allowed the citizens to marvel at the destruction. While the severely damaged portions were covered by the police, the people could watch broken windows and shattered glasses.

“I wonder if there is anybody upstairs and how that person must be feeling about Mumbai looking down from there,” said a lady while making photographs with her mobile camera.

I don’t know about the people up there, but somebody in the sky was surely smiling at the city. A sign of change? Perhaps. Perhaps not.

A smile formed by two stars and the moon

Does anybody stay here?

Broken Windows of Oberoi

Lone Tower of Taj

Suddenly Armed

From the Commander’s Window. Route to Terror?

Kartikey Sehgal

Everyday, around 10 people die on Mumbai local train tracks. But that is not ‘The Taj’. No foreign national comes and kills them. Their death is standard legitimate death. And not sufficient to make headlines.

If a man/woman falls from a train and dies, then the event is deserving of our apathy and disinterest. If a foreigner pushes a man out of the train, then it is an attack worth some media coverage.

The recent terror attack is also India’s way of getting attention and importance. The National Security Guard (NSG) should not have been given the chance to carry out such an operation. The intelligence agencies and the Police should have done their job well.

The commandos are being feted for their bravery and risk taking abilities. However,  Indian security personnel die daily during border fights and their toughness is hardly given any political importance.

Of course, Mumbai is the epicentre of India’s importance and the borders don’t have proper electricity poles and English speaking gentry. Hence the importance in dying in Mumbai instead of, say, Kathua or Pathankot.

Did Indian people shout slogans or stand in support for Army/Navy/Air Force when they wanted a better pay and better ration? That commando whom you are applauding has been fighting with the polity for better ration and good pay for a long time. The people, the democracy, the ‘united front’ has been apathetic to their cause. That was not an international issue so it won’t be exciting for people to shout patriotism on the streets. But this is an international issue. CNN and BBC are involved.

Families of individuals killed in the attack have no reason to accept sympathies from Indian people and politicians. It is their personal loss and they must grieve it alone. The Mumbai resident won’t flinch if your family member is killed in an overloaded train compartment. Blow the member into pieces and Mumbai will show solidarity. Why accept anything at all from such people?

Peace and faith are instruments that would be used to ward off public anger in the coming days. Don’t fall for it. Grieve alone and be silent till you have the chance to act. Learn this tactic from the terrorist and use it to your advantage.

A National Security Guard commando rests during a lull in action after firing at suspected militants holed up at Nariman House in Colaba, Mumbai, India, Friday, Nov. 28, 2008. Commandos ended a siege of the luxury Oberoi Trident Hotel on Friday while other forces rappelled from helicopters to storm a besieged Jewish center, two days after a chain of militant attacks across India’s financial center left people dead and the city in panic. (AP Photo/Saurabh Das) Source

 

Tomorrow: ‘Ananth Venkatesh’ on the Mumbai carnage 

Indian Politicians: Spot the middle finger.

[Gunmen have carried out a series of co-ordinated attacks across the Indian city of Mumbai (Bombay), killing *** people and injuring *** more.] Source

God bless terrorists! Without them, the country is plunged into darkness. Maharashtra is fighting Bihar and Karnataka is fighting Tamil Nadu. Or somewhere in north-east India, separatists are killing tribals. In Orissa, Christians and Hindus are blaming each other for communal tension. When terrorists strike, all these factions become united for a short time. So God bless terrorists.

India is a pitiful country. Like in the past, its people are bent on destroying it internally. The British or the Muslims would never have conquered us if the native kings were united. Similarly, no terrorist can bother us if we work united. But the nation is still soaked in caste and religion; every day there are reports of caste based politics and religious hatred. My self-made sample of daily news that defines India:

• MBA graduate harasses wife for dowry

• IAS officer under scanner for corruption

• Brahmin youth attack Dalit village

• Christians convert Dalit causing riots

• DGP arrested for bribery

Even India’s most popular sport is not spared from corruption. It is common news that many players in the Indian cricket team are selected on regional biases.

But all these conflicts disappear when terrorists strike. The message is clear; when you are not destroying us, we are destroying ourselves.  

All this nonsense about terrorists affecting our moral and social fibre will disappear in a few weeks time and the country will get back to its usual pettiness. Let us not be blinded by news channels asking us to be united and spirited; it just doesn’t work in this country.

The only people who should be sad are those who lost their loved one in the attacks. I don’t think they will say that the politicians must be united in tackling terror. They will also not go about preaching harmony. They will spend time recovering and while doing so, hear shrill voices of communal faith.

Tomorrow: For those who lost someone…