வணக்கம் பம்பாய்(Salaam Bombay)

11/07/06

I am deeply saddened by the bomb blasts in Mumbai. What angers me even more is the lack of sufficient media coverage of the incident in my adopted country. Is this not another chapter in the saga of so called international terrorism? Is an Indian's life simply not as worth as any other Brit or Israeli life? Should the English not understand the agony and the pain having undergone a very similar tragedy just a year ago? With all due respects to the captive Israeli soldier, how is the life of a kidnapped Israeli soldier more valuable than more than 200 innocent civilian lives tragically lost and 1000’s injured due to a bomb blast? Shouldn’t they really be ashamed of their narrow mindedness?

I am angered by the acts of the terrorists. Do they not have a conscience? How could one perform such atrocities in the name of religion? Which religion does not condemn violence? Is this only how much one would value a life? Is int the person who is killed/injured someone's mother/father, someone's daughter/son, wife/husband and friend? What have these innocent lives and their families done to meet such a tragic end? Will their lives ever be the same again? Is this some sort of a collective punishment meted out to the entire community to prove a point? Is it really worth it all? How can anyone be so selfish and unreasonable? Will the compensation from the Government bring back the loving father or the doting mother so mercilessly snatched from their precious families?

I'm frustrated that as a fellow human being as much as I hate to see what is happening around me, there is not much that I could do to stop these atrocities. Sometimes I feel that we are fighting a losing battle. There is only so much that UN or the governments can do and unless there is a radical change in the thought process of the individuals there may really no light at the end of this dark tunnel.

In spite of all this, life goes on and in Mumbai especially life goes on non-stop. Mumbaikars take things on their stride and carry on trying to help others where they can, sharing their grief and pain, donating blood and offering food and shelter to the stranded. Readers Digest has certainly got their math wrong by naming Bombay as the rudest city. The layman's vocabulary may not include please and a thankyou but certainly there is compassion and warmth, which is far more important.


I'm extremely proud of this glorious city and its people who are refusing to yield to demands and pressures of few spineless and heartless individuals and go about their business. This is not disrespect to the dead and this civility should not definitely be construed as weakness. Be it bomb blasts or a natural calamity, the city rises every time like a Phoenix and it is this aspect, which makes Mumbai a truly outstanding city.