My Voice
Its 11 months since I am abroad….20 years in India…..But in these 11 months – I heard 5 times the same thing…I felt the same tension, restlessness, scary feeling…..sadness, bothering, sympathy……amongst all the one feeling I felt strongly was, run back home and sleep in my own house by the side of my mom!! My collegues asked me, if its tenseful and not safe why do u wanna go back ? My answer ” I dint get you” look.”Why would I think like that??Its my Home” was the answer I meant!!
All i can do is…pray for those people who fought…who are as “common man” as we are….but give their lives up….for those families who lost their loved ones , those kids who just feel like me to run back home to find themselves in the safe arms of their parents! My Salute and My prayers!
And the news……Only Indian channels covered it like that I guess….UK hmm there was the news in headlines and updates were there…but i felt it was more genuine , I dont know why 😦 ..felt our media is over doing it!!
I dont think we can blame evrything on government…I dont say they are right neither are we?
We, the people of India, largest democracy of world, elect our leaders, form our government that is supposed to lead us for us and by us….Isnt it so??
If we dont have the capability of making a sensible decision making our leadership team….can we really blame them??
Infact, if we are blaming them…we are blaming ourselves…not indirectly…Directly!! The fact is no one seems to realise this …that its a democracy….its not a blame game…we[ a billion people] could be our strength but we are showing it as a weakness to everyone…….we have capability but we feel its better if its done for us…..dats why we elect leaders to do it for us…they are our representatives….we cant just shrug shoulders and say its the govt problem…arrey, its our government….we should care about our elected person and look to what hes doing as much as we see our own kids/family…will you agree???
Its not a blame game!
PS : Only a change in one person cannot change the world….its something we all should adopt and believe in……then, world changes coz world is nothing but us…Let us make this feeling contagious 🙂
Here is an ad that says it all…..Your heart is the switch to everything
Smile.....an everlasting smile..... 
I agree totally…no use playing blame game…just do whatever u can to help others in this situation…and my salute to all those who were there in that situation and helped others……we need such people…..
yes sahaja, no use of blaming. but one questiondirectly . Where were these politicians during the time of dire adversity? When the media people were risking their lives in trying to give a good coverage, these so-called politicians did not even turn up or for that matter issue a statement for consoling the relatives of the victims.
How can people be so ruthless? not only the terrorists but our political leaders also. only during the funeral of the ATS cheif only the CM of Maharastra seen. is that they care for the citizens who voted for them?
On the other hand, the volunteers did some selfless service in finding the missing through their blog etc.
It is really sad that innocent people are made victims. My son says instead of attacking the innocent people, they should have attacked the politicians and destroyed them. but ofcourse thousands of such new selfish politicians will sprout in no time. It’s time for a good change but how? just a few people who are honest cannot rebuild totally. but the awareness has to come in the people and they should opt for only the deserving, selfless people. Let’s hope for the best. I earnestly offer my condolences for the families of the deceased and may the souls of the deceased rest in peace!! (How can they rest in peace when they died in such a terror)
Me : I agree to what you said Aunty….thing I wanted to say is, if its to be blamed everyone is to be blamed…may be at various intensities…..but whats the use of it….once we know that there is something wrong…..lets get out and rectify it!! everyone thinks, the other person would solve it and so they dont bother…and it ends up that same mistake keeps happening and one fine day wud sum up into a big disaster loosening the strengths of pillars of our system 😦 as it happened last week..
😦
One thing that I want to stress here is we are not electing the best ones. Only choice we have got is to elect the best from the evils. And also the government in the center was a coalation government which was formed after the election results. So they are not the one people have elected.
And the home minister shivraj Patil was there till yesterday just because he is faithful for congress party and we didn’t appointed him in that post.
Only blame we can take is that we didn’t stressed the government on our needs.
Sahaja, I can see the same helplessness in all blogs and comment streams – understandably so. “Where were the politicians?” is the question. I say thank god they kept to themselves indoors. Reason – they create quite a ruckus when they step out on the streets with thousands of followers rallying around and shouting slogans. They require dozens of security personnel. They get Z security while we get ZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzz…. security. If they do anything it is only does more harm than good. If they utter something they only spew utter rubbish. In fact the media questioned the state govt why they did not tell PM and Sonia not to come?
Rightly so. Our bureaucracy needs to rise and deliver – inspite of our politicians’ interference and we depend on them to bring about the change we need. NGOs, Media, Blogging community can also bring about some change by asking the right questions. Hope it all works.
true our media is over doing it ! guess what they had a headline that said – ‘ intented to kill over 5000 people’ did they mean tht we ought to be glad that “only” 200 were killed?? and these 200 had no value???
True we shouldnt blame any but take responsibility on our shoulders. But how could we better equip our police force as a first step!
a truthful thought straight from the heart..
The ad really speaks your heart and mine too..
-Aiz.
Yes, we need to set our own house in order before playing the blame game. Stop communalism, regionalism, religious hatred, and unite together as Indians. Only then will the politicians stop playing us like puppets on strings.
Someone Someplace is Responsible for this horrific tragedy. As much as little children are under the care and protection of the parents so much are the citizens of a country under the protection of the the ones ruling the country. Thats why they are called the Ruling Party.
Yes, its baseless to sit back and blame the government for all such tragedies and the past many calamities, but isint it time the government(any party) woke up to set its house(Security Agency, Policing Agency, Intelligence Agency, Policy making) right? Isint it time that they begin to take notice of the suffering citizens? Isint it time that they take terrorism more seriously? Isint it time that they realise that as much as it is important to provide high security to the leaders so much more its important that this highly protected officials secure the country and protect its citizens?
Sadly, our thoughtless politicians have not matured nor have their pea sized brains developed to understand situations where it is required to stand together for the sake of the country and its people. Three evil plague this great country which are Terrorism(bringing destruction) and Indian politics and politicians(bringing hatred & stife through caste, language, religion and region).
Media in our country is just coming of age so there would be many slip-ups, which could be seen during those 3 days. The senseless questions(how are you feeling? Do you want to go inside and rescue your wife? Do you think she is alive inside? crounched near and beyond the security perimeters near Taj some adventurous reporters saying,”we are in the line of fire for bring the latest news to you” and many more)posed to the grieving relatives, security personnel and the fortunate ones who escaped the bullets and bombs of the terrorists.
We have no one else but the Government(let it be any party) to blame, since they have been voted to rule the country in all fairness and wisdom.
Alas now we Citizens must respond and be more responsive to get what we need. A BETTER PLACE FOR US AND OUR CHILDREN.
Now that a few scapegoats have been found and some “tough talking” has been done, things will slowly calm down and go back to square one . . .
Hi sahaja… How are you? I hope fine…. 🙂
*HUGS*
all politicians are good for nothing. .
people who vote , give their vote to them who they hope will do something for them..
but they do nothing ..
thats when people start blaming ..
Yes, blame games are rubbish. In the end, we are all pitifully laughing at ourselves.
I agree, if things have to change then we should start with self.
We as citizines have to drive for change and set an example. The blame is as much ours as is govts.
If you see my pictures on Flickr of the Mumbai Peace March you will know that the youth of our Nation is fed up and wants instant constructive change..
No more will they take things as our forefathers did..
We have to change and the youth will bring in Change I am hopeful about it..”
Take Care
Firoze Shakir
Photographerno1
I completely agree with the media part of it. All that was remaining to show was a map with live positions of each NSG commando in the operation zone. And then India TV’s coverage of pigeons was mind-blowing..It was the only light moment in those three days.
As far as the rest of the debate goes, I think I already made my argument. Truly representative elections might change the way the country functions, but sometimes, you got to be the agents of change yourself and I am glad Mumbai is standing up to it as one, as is the rest of India.
Agree! I also think the coverage mechanism here is a bit loud… they need to somber themselves a bit.
I, being in India though, covered it all on BBC World and CNN International.
As for the politician go and the need of the hour, I have come up with some interesting theories… please do read and let me know!
Thanks,
An Indian.
http://nationwithoutpeople.blogspot.com/2008/12/new-nation-awaits-are-we-ready.html
@ Sakhi – 😦 its sad indeed but somehow i cant lose hope!
@ Kanagu – I have read a post on Nita’s blog which has many answers to such questions – the one called “what role did we play in the mumbai terror attack”
and once again I stress on the point that its not abt who takes what blame!! Its about who take responsibilty…..We , the people of India are also responsible for not protecting our mother…..and when I say We, the people of India….it does include everyone from politicians to extremists….everyone is an Indian !!
@ Gopi – righlty said….I wrote this post not abt a particular Incident…..Its exactly what I felt….seriously speaking when I was in India, i never heard so many things in span of an year…..i felt its very alarming , i felt it was awful….and u r correct, I have never seen people reacting so much before..Guess many people felt the same as i did………
Internet is one powerful tool which when used in a right sense can become a very great strength !!
@ verbi – Aww thats even worse…..I used to thin NDTV is really a nice channel but i felt it was overdoing so much and i started seeing bbc website instead 😦
And first step is making everyone aware of the change required!!
@ Princess – 🙂
@ Nita – Exactly…before we point at someone’s place…we have 2 make sure we are correct….so how can we even think of blaming anything!!
@ Bensam – the crux is “We have to form a better place for our kids to live in” Thanks for expressing your views in such a comprehensive comment. 🙂
@ Raj – Back to square one 😦 Huh
@ Smallstar – Ya Me fine thank you…how are u?
@ Aravind – Thats what Aravind…why shud we voters hope that they do something….We have to either be sure that they are doing not just hoping and later when all is done criticizing they did not!! For this , first of all, we should be clear in what we want from a leader….dont u think so???
If we leave anything for long it will rot!! thats what is happening now!60years 😦
@ Trialblazer – If we can really laugh at ourselves thats even better Trialblazer….the situation is that we cannot laugh even at ourselves!!! 😦 Its not a silly mistake…
@ Smita – Things are changing I think……..I have seen many people thinking similarly but dont know when and where and how!!
@ Firoze – I have seen few pics on Smita’s blog…its indeed giving hope to many!
@ Kapil – Ya, we have to be agents of the change itself sometimes!!
@ Indian – Thanks and welcome to my blog….will read them soon!
One thing I like to explain is we are all working in a company which doesn’t mean that the owner of the company is not talented enough to do our work. It is just because he has some other important work to do and he is paying us for doing his/her work.
Likewise we are appointing the politicians as our representatives to solve our problems which doen’t mean we are not capable but we are giving it to someone interested in it and we are paying them through our taxes. In company they can sack us anytime they want but that is not possible here.
So they are accountable to our nation and to us. By saying this I am insisting that we must be the first one to concern about our system when it goes wrong. And we must devise plans to bring this nation back from apathy.
“Only a change in one person cannot change the world…”
You know, Sahaja, history has been scripted by individuals.
That it took a heinous crime to awaken us to the situation in our country tells a lot about our ‘patriotism’. Why was there no rally after communal riots, against corruption, ….terrorism is trivial, if we are strong at core.
@ Kanagu – Accountability, Yes we need…..And the leaders whom we chose are accountable definitely!! But I dont see one leader taking responsibilty and atleast telling what happened is bad sad and we wont let it happen again…..what all i can gather is “its their problem ” or ” this is work of so and so etc ” who told a plan of what they are going to do about this? who showed the measures that wud be in place to protect?? None…..things are left the way they are….there are words and no actions….and the media also has a big factor of accountability I feel, they are the people who create hype and i am afraid once another hot news comes, focus is all gone! No one really cares if plans are in place and is going on…..
this post of mine, is a result of my reaction to hype media and irresponsible leaders! Both of them are necessary but care should be taken by us that it doesnt stay as necessary evil!!
@ Swaps – Exactly Swaps…..we have to build up our core values! we are the people who need to be clear of what we expect from the so called democratic government…..we are the people who need to rise from deep slumber thinking someone would do that for us….we should be responsible citizens!
We are patriotic Swaps…who is not? every human loves the place they are born be it regional /national/global….
Patriotism is not sitting back and watching till something happens and suddenly shouting slogans if something happens….
What surprises me most is, most of the people whom I met/spoken think like this….that there is a need for change…but why is it not happening??? coz we dont have that single person who can script history for us….We need some system waking us up and leading us by taking the first system….
History has been scripted by individuals I agree totally but only by those indivuduals who are capable of leading thousands….be it be hitler or Gandhi….they are Leaders!
! Thats what we are lacking now 😦
Even take me, why did i post this one? I feel that most people felt like me when they hear such things….I have never been to Mumbai and its definitely nothing dear and close to me if u say regionalism etc…….I felt because its one land and my land…..if it would happened in some other country may be even so called rivals and I came across in news like I did with Mumbai , I would have reacted the same……I would have felt the same fear of innocent people dying…..it churns my stomach that someone could kill a fellow human…I somehow cant comprehend that!!
We form countries, unions, states etc just coz excess of anything is bad…..its too difficult to manage a biiig piece of land….all these are kept in place to make things easier, to create order but i dont think its like that anymore! 😦
And its too foolish to sit back and say we should not fight when the other side is coming over us…..we need to protect the country just as we protect our kids/house/family…..Patriotism is a feeling of ownership love and accountability just as is love towards a family…..Thats what I wanted to highlight…..and this is the feeling that i wanted to make contagious!
As u said, we should start realising that our backbone is hurt and work towards making it same again!
hey nice blog & nice post 🙂