Mumbai 26/11 -- Will It Be India's 9/11 ?

Whole of India is glued to what's happening in Mumbai for the last 4 days. I cannot describe my feelings in words. Mumbai has a charm and magic that catches everyone whoever visits it. You live there for a few months and you will remember that charm for the rest of your life. No wonder i am also attached emotionally to this city. Dont ask me why, how and reasons, i cannot explain. But Mumbai is always special. I guess the important reason is - Mumbai is a synonym of 'dreams' for everyone. Whatever may be the job of a person, Mumbai is the place that allows him/her to dream and dream big and it gives the extra 'push' and 'kick' that anything can be achieved. It pains so much to see what happened to these famous 'South Mumbai' places. I never been in Taj, but i have been in Oberoi 2-3 times.

So how exactly i feel after these 4 days:
helpless,
hopeless,
ashamed of our politics, system and may be myself,
feel like knocked down and gave in and i sensed that i am not feeling the 'kick' i usually feel when i watch the latest 'bharti' - Proud to be Indian, bharti ad - I cannot connect to that ad.

No doubt this is India's 9/11. But what i want and i guess majority of people want is that India's response should be same like America's response to their 9/11. Just cross the border and wipe out terrorist camps in POK and Bangladesh. U.S has almost wiped out 2 countries to protect their citizens. Why can't we just attack the terrorist training camps? Reminds me of some movie dialogue - 'Jo Sochta Hai, Wo Sochtaa Hee Rahega'. For God's sake, act & react strongly and show that our government and politicians are potent. If after this also nothing changes and another blast at another place in a few months - people will no longer feel proud to be Indians and they just become indifferent, stoic and impassive.

Airport Modernisation && Change

This is the first thing that caught my attention when i landed in the newly modernized Mumbai domestic airport 1 year back. Though i am not a big fan of Gandhi, this quote had a great effect on me. After seeing the progress being made by the GVK in the airport modernisation, i really felt that 'here comes India'. Any traces of doubts i had before regarding India's prospects were shattered at that moment. At this time only i realized that with money we can do anything. We, Indians also need these kind of world-class airports and other best benefits. Even for modernising the 4 metro airports, AAI (Airport Authority Of India) and its employees created huge ruckus at that time. Thank God, government started this modernisation because of 2010 common wealth games.

Now when i returned to Mumbai this time, i got a chance to take this picture. Got a chance to see the more progress being made in and around the Airport. Way to go Mumbai and India.

Whose Mumbai Is It ?? && Lessons From British 'Raj'

Below line from a ‘Times of India’ article made me write this post:

“Loud discussions have given way to whispers… that’s what’s really scary”, is how a north Indian techie who spent the better part of his life in Mumbai described the new mood in the city.

Now the feeling of ‘outsider’ and ‘native’ is being felt by IT engineers and other white-collar people also. Till a few days back may be most people were thinking that this is a ‘tamasha’ being created by MNS for political mileage and the people involved in the violence are illiterate and unemployed youth. But now even literates are also thinking like this. ‘Local trains’, the very fabric or lifeline of Mumbai are being used to further this division.

Isn’t there something wrong? This confirms my belief that we really learnt one thing very well from the British – ‘Divide and Rule’. Isn’t this what Raj’s MNS is trying to achieve? 400 years back as a race or as a civilization we fell in that trap to British and still we didn’t learn anything. 400 years and still there is no ‘change’. Isn’t it so easy to create ‘hatred’ among people here in India? Is it so easy to make people fight with each other and use it for your benefit? Are we inclined to hate and fight with each other for any slightest reason? Reminds me of Sue’s dialogue in the film ‘Rang De Basanti’ – “I was so stupid to pack my bags and come to a place where people are looking for excuses to kill each other”. Religion, north-east-west-south divide, state, regions within state, caste, sub-caste --- what not, we have so many ‘diverse’ reasons to hate each other. ‘Unity in Diversity’ – the unity we are talking is this much fragile! Is Winston Churchill correct in saying –"India is no more a political personality than Europe. India is a geographical term. It is no more a united nation than the Equator”?

Lots and lots of haunting questions.....