Chords Of Life

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!