Bombay Dreams – Shattered! November 30, 2008
Posted by Vikas Tandon in India, Life.Tags: Leopold Cafe, Mumbai Terror, Mumbai Terror Attacks, Mumbai's 9/11, Nariman House Terror Attacks, Oberoi Terror Attacks, Taj Terror Attacks
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Like most other Bombayites (don’t find the need to be politically correct and say Mumbaikars!) I feel sad, angry, confused, helpless, lucky, grateful….. But somewhere, I also feel happy to find that the “this is the last straw” sentiment seems to echo really loudly in the city. Not surprised, for its been a long time coming, but happy.
Of course, it is not enough to say enough – like Madame Shobha De spouting her worthless 2 cents and empty rhetoric on all TV channels, even going to the extent of distancing herself from other “celebrities” who are expressing themselves. I mean all she could say was enough is enough, we must do something, heads must roll, blah blah, without one single, concrete suggestion. And yet she claimed to be different from other celebrities!! This “enough” sentiment must NOT be allowed to lose momentum – bringing about even an iota of change is the best respect we can pay to the lives lost.
Which brings me to my first point of confusion about this issue. Everyone’s talking about a failure of leadership, and that we need to use our power of the ballot to boot the inefficient out. The million dollar question is, who do you vote in? Sure enough at the next election, I’m going to be standing at the booth faced with the same Congress, NCP, BJP, Shiv Sena, SP, BSP….and some unheard of independents. There may be the odd constituency where a candidate, perhaps even from one of the above parties, may have an impeccable reputation. But for the most part, THERE IS NO CHOICE. So what power of the ballot are we really talking about?
The fact is not all of us have the gumption to take up the challenge of any of these leadership positions. And I think its childish to argue that if one feels so strongly about this, why does one not take up the challenge of running for office. IMHO, taking up political service, like being involved in an NGO, for instance, is NOT like a regular job. Having strong administration and leadership abilities is a necessary but NOT a sufficient condition. It MUST have an altruistic motive above all else, and hence requires spiritual courage at some level – if you really intend to do it right.
However, what we CAN do, is to make the ones who do accountable, and not get away with their ulterior motive of joining politics. And if that cannot be done by exercising choice of candidate, it must be done by forcing accountability – through civil rights methods, if need be – non-cooperation, dharnas, judicial channels…. Lets face it, the only power the citizens have is financial, and that of numbers. I feel it is high time some of our industry leaders, who are funding many of these political parties in any case, either directly – through donations, etc, or indirectly through the taxes they pay, now demand what is due to them and the citizens. Not only do they have the financial muscle, but they are doubtless extremely enterprising. I have always believed that whatever progress India makes is because of private enterprise and IN SPITE of the government!
And if sufficiently large mass movements can be gathered to demand such accountability, rather than to demand reservation for sons of the soil, we should be able to force accountability from the very people we feel we need to vote out. I mean why the hell should Shivraj Patil be sacked, and waste all the public money that has been spent in electing him and keeping him in office for the last 4 years to do a job he has not done? He should be rather FORCED to do his job – don’t let him get away scot free. Take away his security, his perks, give him targets to achieve. And should it be necessary to finally sack a leader, it should automatically disqualify him/her from EVER standing for office again. Failure in public office should be made unacceptable and (I don’t think this may be feasible, but if its), a criminal offence punishable by law.
And here’s yet another sample – our State Home Minister RR Patil says “it could have been worse. 5000 could have died..”!! What the hell is his point? That we should be glad it was only 300? I’d like to see Mr Patil say that face to face to Mr Kang (GM of the Taj), to Major Unnikrishnan’s parents, or to any of the relatives of the victims. Shouldn’t he, as our leader, our “karta” feel that ONE is bad enough? Again IMHO, the damage is done – it is as bad at 300 as i would have been at 5000!
And that’s a fact. With all due respect to the courage of the and the job done by the security forces, the terrorists have managed to achieve their objective. They have come into the city with a large cache of arms undetected, managed to murder several people, cause mayhem, severely damage the icons Bombay holds so dear, and hold out against our best forces for THREE days – all with what – 6 months of training and first time at the job? We MUST believe that our security forces have done the best they could under the circumstances. Doubting their efficiency or efficacy in the operation would insult their effort and sacrifices of the cops and commandos who lost their lives. All I’m saying is that despite that, the terrorists have managed to do what they came to do.
Another sentiment I am glad is being echoed in Bombay is getting beyond this “spirit of Bombay” business – I mean, what choice do you have after an event has happened? Sit at home and never cross the road again? If I don’t go to work, who pays the exorbitant rent for that kholi, the EMI for my car, my son’s school fees, or the hafta for my pan-bidi shop??? Is it really spirit or necessity? Not only politicians, but I was dismayed to see even corporates trying to cash in on this “spirit of Mumbai” bullshit. Today (Sunday)’s DNA carries an ad on the masthead from KURL-ON saying “The Spirit of Mumbai cannot be shattered by bullets – Kurl-On”.
Hello???????? I’m surprised a paper like DNA carried an ad like this!
And then this morning, when I went for my run at Marine Drive, the media OB vans were still out there trying to interview some of us to “capture this spirit of Mumbai”. The spirit is now beginning to turn evil and haunt us!!
Finally, there is only hope – that this tragic event will bring about the change that is long overdue. A change that will only happen if we ASK for it, AND are prepared to work towards it. I’m perhaps not capable of leading that change, but am happy to put my hand up as a follower to do what is in my capacity.
As for the ones who lost their innocent lives in this massacre, we need to believe what my friend recently said when he lost a family member – that they are in better hands!
That was great Vikas and mostly true, except that it is because most of us dont have the gumption or think that it is childish to take that step that we DONT have a CHOICE for better governance.
Are you saying that most of us, dont have better admimistration and leadership qualities, and even basic intelligence and integrity, than those calling the shots at the moment??
And yes I can say that there are much better chances of any one us not having the motives of just amassing public wealth and tax payers money and directing it into swiss bank accounts to ensure that their next 20 generations can live in the lap of luxury without working for even a day!!
Which might bring you to your next thought that then why dont i enter that world or atleast make an attempt to?
The truthful answer is that I dont know how! But yes if I had some directive in front of me, for example, unrealistic as it sounds, if there was a party being formed, maybe by few like minded youths like ourselves, to contest in an attempt to change things at the root level, I would be the first one willing to come out of my comfort zone and enter in as long as i was being guided and directed bradly and initially atleast.
I know that may not seem like a practical solution BUT I feel in my heart it is possibly one of those few possibilities that could bring about a significant change.
Hi Lina/Rahul,
Thanks for your feedback, and point taken. Actually I was trying to say the same thing as you are, perhaps did not come out right.
I was trying to preempt the obvious question when one is angry at a certain situation and wants to change it – why don’t you do something yourself instead of criticising and complaining? To which I am saying that not all of us can take up that charge because in my opinion it takes more than administrative ability and even integrity to LEAD a movement like this – it needs vision and spiritual capacity. And I was saying that at least right now, I probably do not possess that hence, like you, I am happy to contribute in any such initiative if I am shown the direction.
Excellent writing for the occasion though I would rather go more harsh on system / administration and would wish for some tougher action. I would rather sing the song of “Ati Sarvatra Varjayet” and this time it’s “Ati” for our tolerant approach. I was boiling with anger and jotted down that anger in words few hours ago.
Came across a very interesting post on the subject by Sanjeev Roy from Bullzi. Worth a look…
http://www.bullzi-inc.com/opinions/01122008/lose-the-venom-keep-the-bite/
And here’s another set of thoughts forwarded by Rashmi. Some good ideas for action:
Well written… Here are a few concrete ideas from someone – posted on karmayog mailing list.
Re: Mumbai Terror Attack — your views needed
Posted by: “ashish.pawaskar” ashish@inwiz.com ashish.pawaskar
Sun Nov 30, 2008 7:12 am (PST)
Dear friends,
It was really a proud feeling to know that so many people refuse to take
this cowardly act lying down. I am sure that there are many others out
there that are not online and are ready to ACT NOW!
However, in reading through many of the responses to Vinay’s mail, I
noticed that the suggestions range from immediately actionable to the
Utopian.
Now that we all have had a chance to express our anger, we should now
channelise this anger to do something worthwhile with it. The
politicians and the terrorists are expecting us to scream, rant and
shout for a week or two and then go back to our routine lives. Not just
that they will also rub it in later by saying that this is the famous
“Spirit of Mumbai”
Yes, the system should be corruption-free, the police should be free of
political influence, the police should not have to pay for plum
postings, religious extremists organisations should be banned, and
perhaps we should have a president like George Bush too! (just kidding!)
but the whole world out there and I am sure many people like me on this
list are waiting for SPECIFIC, IMMEDIATELY ACTIONABLE things to do.
The team at karmayog is doing an excellent job of galvanising the
society into action, I hope that they can break up this project into
small task that the common man can do, so that things start moving off
the drawing board, we can always have a mid-course correction.
Things like:
1. An RTI application on why the Coastal Police Station scheme was
not implemented.
2. An RTI application on why the DGP (Coastal) did not act upon the
specific RDX transport information sent in writing by the Fisherman’s
Union.
3. An RTI application on why the area was not cordoned off to prevent
the public/media from obstructing the police in doing their job. I am
not sure if the yellow “Police Line – Do not Cross” is used in India.
4. An RTI application on why police reforms as desired by the Supreme
Court are not being implemented in Maharashtra and other states.
5. A questionnaire to various Corporators asking them on their stand
on illegal immigrants or perhaps things done to ensure no anti-social
elements can hide in their constituency.
6. A questionnaire to candidates in the upcoming elections about
their policy for tackling terror.
7. A fact sheet or report card of incumbents showing what things they
had promised and what things they have achieved. Also the reasons why
they did not keep their word.
8. A white paper on the assets of the incumbents and candidates
showing the rise in their assests (after getting elected) and their
sources. Recently it was there in the news about the candidates for the
Delhi elections.
Many of these things are being done by various other groups, we
should volunteer for helping these people, cos sifting through the
records is back-breaking work. Maybe Vinay could highlight these groups
somewhere on Karmayog.
Someone said on the TV the other days, “Anger is a luxury”, I agree, but
let’s not waste our anger by forgeetting about it.
Let’s do something now!
–
Ashish Pawaskar
Mumbai
I felt shocked and quite shaken on Nov 26. Now,I mostly feel deeply hurt and in grief.
I also am very upset on the leadership bailing out at this time of disaster in the time of extreme vulnerabily in Bombay. This is a wakeup call.
Looking from the outsideworld, it has left the City more open to wounds from the outside world. I have to say it looks very bad on Bomay to have the leaders behave like voosies.
There is strong media here in US about it being Alkiada induced.
On the other hand, being a bombayite myself, I can say that we will survive and thrive. One thing that can never be destroyed is our spirit, intelligence and high selfesteem.
We will rebiuld and recover. Just needs some time for healing.
We do have support from the West.
Priti