Gagan Kaul Blog

I was having a pleasant evening today, sitting in my flat in Mumbai, watching a movie and was just going to sleep when an RSS feed popped in about delhi bombings. I was repulsed by the news to the very core. Just when normalcy was starting to set in and the festive mood was starting to liven up the spirits, such a nefarious act spoilt the whole passiveness and the relaxed mood that I had been carrying the whole day. I do not know why I felt so strongly against this inhuman act, but the pictures being shown on TV are very chilling. The gory sites of blasts, at three different places in Delhi, present a picture of utter sadness and gloom. Just heard the Prime Minister’s address to the nation and and his statements were the usual banter of how the nation is ready to face such acts and smeared with the usual cliche - ‘fight against terrorism’. A few days back I had read in the papers about advanced warnings being given to Indian intelligence agencies about some plans being hatched to bomb places in India. And inspite of such news and advanced knowledge of an impending disaster being planned, the security fails and there is utter chaos. Is this a failure of the government machinery, or the smartness of the terrorists to know about how to find loopholes and flaws in the arrangements? There will be a lot of questions and an equal number of ‘politically correct’ answers. No matter how much we Indians hate destruction and genocide, the face of terror always catches up at the most festive and most fraternizing times.

BBC is reporting that the number of people killed are above 50, and still counting. There are no news about the dead ones, and there is mass frenzy outside hospitals where the injured are being treated. People are waiting to know the news of well-being of their kin. And the police is not revealing anything as of now, causing more worry and frustration among the relatives of the injured. Not knowing whether your near ones are alive or dead, and hanging in a timeless loop of wait and jiffy, one can only imagine the pain the people both inside and outside the hospitals must be going through. It is so painful to assess and know the damage, as the sites of the blast were crowded and jammed with people, who were doing their Eid and Diwali shopping. This is one of the most hatred-filled and shameful acts carried out at this sacred time when people from all communities are getting ready to mingle. Whatever is the motive behind these blasts, I hope the nation emerges stronger and fights back in unison. Of course, sans any politician’s ‘brownie-point’ speeches.