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Mumbai: The time has come, to speak of carnages and kings. Ashoka, Akbar and Gautama were moved by human suffering to look at religion for an answer. Others continued their rule along the path of whatever their dharma was. But no one played the blame game and no one whined. Neither did anyone applaud the junta of their land for moving on.
Everywhere, people grieved. Life came to a full stop. Not a hyphen or a comma a full stop. People grieved, as they are grieving now.
There's anger too. At the terrorists, yes, but equally towards leaders who are doing a shoddy job of leading us. And so the bottomline: we have politicians, but where are the leaders?
As the events of 26/11 unfolded, Vilasrao Deshmukh, chief minister of Maharashtra, read out from sheets of paper. That was his first interaction with the city, the state, the nation, the world since the attack began. The sheets of paper in his hand should have been mere fact sheets to be looked at if at all the need arose. His speech should have been impassioned, spontaneous and heartfelt, one that inspired hope and confidence. Instead, we got platitudes in a monotone delivery. It was demoralising.
As the night of 26/11 turned to the morning of 27/11, the Prime Minister of the country was conspicuous by his absence. One can imagine he was ensconced in a meeting with other important and similarly grave-looking people. But the fact that one read and heard world leaders offer their sympathy and condemnation before one's own Prime Minister was demoralising.
An anxious nation alternated between flipping news channels and calling people they thought might be in danger. But those who should have been in the know were not in the know and what's worse, looked like they simply did not realise the gravity of the situation.
Once again, Mumbai's infamous disaster management unit showed itself up. For what is this if not a disaster?
Every time there is a crisis, a knee-jerk reaction follows and the government puts a cursory preparedness module in place. Boats after the floods, CCTVs after the train blasts... have you heard of anything so short-sighted?
The nature of disaster changes and that is the new reality every world city must prepare itself for. Earthquake, flood, terrorists, epidemic⦠Crisis management teams must know not just how to swim but also fight. Money invested in this is money invested in a safer future. Yes, intelligence gathering has to be beefed up. But cops who otherwise spend their days chasing petty criminals or listening to complaints between warring families are simply not equipped to face gunmen ready to die.
Mumbai by its very definition of being a cosmopolitan city will always be a soft target. Almost anyone can send out a message by targeting one group or another in Mumbai
As the terrorists seem to have done this last week. Can't reach US-UK? Go to Mumbai. Can't reach Israel? Go to Nariman House. Can't go to Gujarat, Rajasthan, Kerala, West Bengal... Go to Mumbai. What was once the city's pride its diversity is now its weakness. And that is why it has never needed protection as much as it needs it now.
Not a knee-jerk reaction like CCTVs at all traffic signals but a systematic setting up of a national-level intelligence gathering unit. And, equally, counter-terrorism and combat-training for law-enforcement units in every city across India.
This time, let there be no victimisation of the other. Let there be no blame game. Let's turn the gaze inward and see what we can do to make our cities safe. Let's not sweep things under the carpet let's not move on. Let's dwell on what has happened. For those who don't learn from history are doomed to have it repeated unto them.
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