Finally.
Finally the fight against the source of fear comes to an end. But this isn’t the real end. This is the beginning. The start of the fight of a nation, united now, against the source.
The blasts and firings that shook the mighty mumbaites came to an end today after a 59 hour tryst.
Let me begin from the very beginning. Terror. Terror translates into a feeling that is stronger than fear. And people who evoke this feeling. Terrorists.
This terror strike is a signal for the entire world that, it is high time we join hands and work seriously on this. We should stop playing the blame game and work to strengthen ourselves so that such an act of misery does not repeat. It is useless to blame the intelligence bodies of our country, honestly how much can they do? The attack, as we all know was a very well planned one. It is no one day job. It’s pretty obvious that they had complete information of how, what and where. On the other hand our intelligence officials had none of that.
Our nation has been facing this from over the past 15 years. And now, our tolerance and patience has run out. For example, just because Mumbai is said to bounce back always with its undying spirit, doesn’t mean that you keep hitting it over and over again. This time, we’ll fight back and we have.
This poem goes out to all those who have laid their lives and their families. May their souls rest in peace..
Rest in peace
O mighty warriors,
You’ve done what none could.
Stood sturdy against the howling wind.
Life was the price you paid,
For life itself.
You maybe no more of blood and flesh,
But you live on, immortal,
in the minds of those,
for whom you bled.
Love is this,
You have shown us all,
Love for all brethren,
All humans alike.
No, mighty warriors,
This shall not be in vain,
We shall dismiss this darkness,
Make way for the light to shine,
Pave the path for generations to come,
Relish our beautiful world.
Let us all pray for the people of Mumbai and mourn their loss.
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Friday, November 14, 2008
Life cycle
Every lesson in life starts this way, always.
'I am 15 now. I’m big enough to know what I should be doing and what I shouldn’t.'
‘See dear, you’re growing but not grown up yet, you still have so much more to see in life.’
‘What does the rest of my life or experience got to do with all of this?’
‘We’re not telling you so only about this issue but every other you’ll be facing as you grow up.’
‘You always say that! You enjoy saying ‘no’ to me right? You elders are all the same, you never understand me. You’re all old-fashioned. You have no clue how I think or what I want or need.’
‘Do you really think that we don’t know?’
‘Of course, otherwise you wouldn’t refuse me now.’
‘OK, how is it possible that you’ve become 15 without us providing anything for you at all? You think that we don’t know what you want? Then how is it that you always got everything you wanted without asking?’
‘Grrr…enough of this lecture, every time I want something, you give me this lecture.’
‘If you want to discuss this like an adult and not like a kid, it would do better to sit and talk rather than walk off.’
‘Fine. Tell me!’
‘Why do you think that till date you’ve been getting everything you wanted?’
‘Well, that’s simple. I’m your only son, if you wouldn’t give me, to who else would you. Besides you love me.’
‘Good enough. We’re also your only set of parents, right? In that case you should also be listening and obeying us all the time right? But how come we don’t see you doing that often. You choose to get whatever you want from us. But what about what we want from you? And we believe that you love us too. I asked you to join us this evening for the puja, did you?’
‘No’
‘Why not? You see my dear, it’s not about love or being the only child, the magic word here is respect. How much do you respect our wishes? Every time we said ‘yes’ to you or asked what you would want to do, it was only because we respected your decision to do so. But you failed to see that. You failed to realise that everything is based on respect. They say that respect is a give-take relationship. Give us respect my son, and you shall have whatever you want. And mind you, respect doesn’t only mean addressing us with respect but also obeying us and listening to us. You understand, don’t you?’
‘Oh whatever, fine I’ll do what you want, can I go now?’
‘Sigh. When will he learn?’
This episode replayed in my mind, just now my 10 year old daughter walked out of the room because I refused to let her go for a movie today.
Some lessons are learnt by experience only.
What goes around comes around. So are the laws of life.
'I am 15 now. I’m big enough to know what I should be doing and what I shouldn’t.'
‘See dear, you’re growing but not grown up yet, you still have so much more to see in life.’
‘What does the rest of my life or experience got to do with all of this?’
‘We’re not telling you so only about this issue but every other you’ll be facing as you grow up.’
‘You always say that! You enjoy saying ‘no’ to me right? You elders are all the same, you never understand me. You’re all old-fashioned. You have no clue how I think or what I want or need.’
‘Do you really think that we don’t know?’
‘Of course, otherwise you wouldn’t refuse me now.’
‘OK, how is it possible that you’ve become 15 without us providing anything for you at all? You think that we don’t know what you want? Then how is it that you always got everything you wanted without asking?’
‘Grrr…enough of this lecture, every time I want something, you give me this lecture.’
‘If you want to discuss this like an adult and not like a kid, it would do better to sit and talk rather than walk off.’
‘Fine. Tell me!’
‘Why do you think that till date you’ve been getting everything you wanted?’
‘Well, that’s simple. I’m your only son, if you wouldn’t give me, to who else would you. Besides you love me.’
‘Good enough. We’re also your only set of parents, right? In that case you should also be listening and obeying us all the time right? But how come we don’t see you doing that often. You choose to get whatever you want from us. But what about what we want from you? And we believe that you love us too. I asked you to join us this evening for the puja, did you?’
‘No’
‘Why not? You see my dear, it’s not about love or being the only child, the magic word here is respect. How much do you respect our wishes? Every time we said ‘yes’ to you or asked what you would want to do, it was only because we respected your decision to do so. But you failed to see that. You failed to realise that everything is based on respect. They say that respect is a give-take relationship. Give us respect my son, and you shall have whatever you want. And mind you, respect doesn’t only mean addressing us with respect but also obeying us and listening to us. You understand, don’t you?’
‘Oh whatever, fine I’ll do what you want, can I go now?’
‘Sigh. When will he learn?’
This episode replayed in my mind, just now my 10 year old daughter walked out of the room because I refused to let her go for a movie today.
Some lessons are learnt by experience only.
What goes around comes around. So are the laws of life.
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Cyber Suicide.
A few weeks back I started my day, like any other. Picking up the Times Edition for the day and skimming through the headlines. One particular article on the front page caught my eye. The headline itself passed a shiver through my spine. It said ‘Youth hangs self on webcam for his girl’.
I was aghast at this act, completely disgusted.
The act in itself is such a horrifying one. It is one thing to commit suicide and another to broadcast it to the girl you love. I cannot imagine the nerve of the boy to make his helpless girlfriend watch the entire act. What a state of shock the poor girl must be in. I fail to understand what the boy had wanted to achieve by killing himself. All people no matter what kind of life they lead face problems. Problems or any kind of obstacles in life can be solved when you are alive to solve them. The only thing a person achieves by choosing to kill himself is to not face the problem, but to find refuge in death.
In the case of this youth, I wonder whether if he had thought twice about how his parents would feel on seeing his lifeless body. Had the youth even thought about the life he could have lived in the future, of having a flourishing career? I wonder if he felt a sense of responsibility towards his parents and sibling at that point of time. It is difficult to understand what prompted him to commit such an extreme act, and that too in front of the girl who was the center of his world!
Another aspect of this act which makes it so shocking is the use of cyber technology in this fashion. Who would’ve ever imagined that a webcam could be used as an instrument to telecast a suicide? What irks me further is the presence of sites on web with step by step instructions on how to commit suicide. Though it is difficult to say how many people actually indulge in using such websites, their mere presence is irksome. Though we have laws governing the use of cyber space, it’s a question of how effectively will they be enforced. How is it possible to stop a person to access information on the net? How is it possible to figure out who uses such services and who doesn’t, when everybody uses secret screen names?
Though this one boy is not the representative of the entire population of youngsters in our country, he is definitely one amongst them. He’s one amongst us. It is indeed pitiful to see anybody resort to such an act of desperation.
This article is just a request to all those people out there to think at least once about the consequences their impulsive acts bring about. I’d like to make a point that such people escape the clutches of life and its problems, but the people who loved them are now in the clutches of death without even facing it.
I was aghast at this act, completely disgusted.
The act in itself is such a horrifying one. It is one thing to commit suicide and another to broadcast it to the girl you love. I cannot imagine the nerve of the boy to make his helpless girlfriend watch the entire act. What a state of shock the poor girl must be in. I fail to understand what the boy had wanted to achieve by killing himself. All people no matter what kind of life they lead face problems. Problems or any kind of obstacles in life can be solved when you are alive to solve them. The only thing a person achieves by choosing to kill himself is to not face the problem, but to find refuge in death.
In the case of this youth, I wonder whether if he had thought twice about how his parents would feel on seeing his lifeless body. Had the youth even thought about the life he could have lived in the future, of having a flourishing career? I wonder if he felt a sense of responsibility towards his parents and sibling at that point of time. It is difficult to understand what prompted him to commit such an extreme act, and that too in front of the girl who was the center of his world!
Another aspect of this act which makes it so shocking is the use of cyber technology in this fashion. Who would’ve ever imagined that a webcam could be used as an instrument to telecast a suicide? What irks me further is the presence of sites on web with step by step instructions on how to commit suicide. Though it is difficult to say how many people actually indulge in using such websites, their mere presence is irksome. Though we have laws governing the use of cyber space, it’s a question of how effectively will they be enforced. How is it possible to stop a person to access information on the net? How is it possible to figure out who uses such services and who doesn’t, when everybody uses secret screen names?
Though this one boy is not the representative of the entire population of youngsters in our country, he is definitely one amongst them. He’s one amongst us. It is indeed pitiful to see anybody resort to such an act of desperation.
This article is just a request to all those people out there to think at least once about the consequences their impulsive acts bring about. I’d like to make a point that such people escape the clutches of life and its problems, but the people who loved them are now in the clutches of death without even facing it.
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