New Delhi and the bombs

Shortly after 6:30pm IST, a series of 5 bombs rocked the Indian capital of New Delhi, killing around 2 dozen people and wounding around a hundred others.

On behalf of everyone here, we extend our deepest sympathies and condolences to the families who have lost their loved ones…for no fault of theirs. And at the same time, curse the wrecked freaks who caused this; killing innocent people in their mindless wake.

And it makes me angry thinking about it. This is not the first time this has happened, and probably is not the last. So in between when it happened for the first time and now; what has changed and what hasn’t?

As ever, the President, Prime Minister, Other Ministers, and all the guys up in Parliament, issued their standard statement expressing their “deepest concerns” and “appeal for calm and peace”.

On the face of it, it sounds like a good idea. Keep calm. And let the authorities do their job.

But as history bears witness, this does not really happen. What does happen is a series of routine tasks:

1)       The police ‘investigates’ and makes random arrests around the city of ‘suspects’…as if terrorists just hang around waiting for the police to grab them.

2)       Security gets ‘beefed up’ (whatever the hell that means) around airports, train stations and other ‘strategic locations’…as if terrorists are stupid enough to attack the most obvious places just hours after a major attack.

3)       Barricades are put up, and a major part of the public that had nothing to do with this is agonized by not being able to visit their loved ones in hospital or move away from hot spots.

4)       News channels, magazines and news sites go into overdrive on how to deal with the menace.

5)       The government reiterates its commitment to fighting violent attacks and acts of terror.

6)       The opposition party organizes rallies on how the current administration is doing such a sloppy job.

7)       Two weeks later, everyone forgets the whole thing. And life goes on as usual.


As usual of course, except for those who lost their loved ones in the attack. And then those ‘suspects’ who were rounded up just to make the police look good, and languish in dungeons with no charges laid against them.

Conveniently forget; is sadly what our country seems to do best.

13 comments:

m said...

Hmmm....it was sad to hear about the blasts and could not help but wonder whether we have any intelligence units and if so, what the hell are they doing? so much blasts are occuring as a chain but yet we (including the officials, police etc) know seem to know about them only after they had happened!

engae poi mutikirathu innu theriyalae!

ravikiran said...

Hey ARN, nice blog you got here. I'm assuming you are a Crescent Alumnus.

About the blasts, you know what is the worst part, not one person who was actually in charge of these bombings will ever get rounded up. The police just rounds up some petty thieves who happen to be muslims and that gives the terrorists more opportunities to 'recruit' and 'brainwash' other innocent folks.
Its becoming a little like a vicious cycle now.

Lena said...

Thats really sad what had happened, but even sadder is that those who should care most about that, dont seem to care at all

-=A.R.N.=- said...

@ela
I guess the stupid "intelligence" is the same everywhere....remember the U.S. intelligence that was sure of the Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq?

@ravikiran
Thx dude! Actually I am Crescent Alumni...hmm, do we know each other?
And you're right abt the suspects who get rounded up.

@lena
Thx for your comments.
I assume you're not from India...believe me, you have no idea how things work there :)

ravikiran said...

we don't know each other. But you left a comment in my blog. so i checked out yours. mine is publishit.blogspot.com

and me is 2007 passout. you is?

-=A.R.N.=- said...

@ravikiran

oh...I guess i forgot.
I graduated in '05.
thx for dropping by!

Rayees Ahamed said...

Mere Politics,

Preparations for upcoming Elections.

-=A.R.N.=- said...

@rayees

It is sad that political plans involve the death of innocent people.
Really sad.

A wo(a)ndering mind said...

"Conviniently forget".. yes.. exactly..
and it angers me so much that we do that.
when it happens in the US, the entire world talks about it for the next 10 years.. the blasts were just scrolling news on cnn..it was a usual day of obama and mccain here in the US news.
but how can i blame them. if we ourselves dont take us seriously, how the hell do we expect everybody else to.
I can't wait for the day when there is enough pride and anger in every inch of an Indian soul

A wo(a)ndering mind said...

"Conviniently forget".. yes.. exactly..
and it angers me so much that we do that.
when it happens in the US, the entire world talks about it for the next 10 years.. the blasts were just scrolling news on cnn..it was a usual day of obama and mccain here in the US news.
but how can i blame them. if we ourselves dont take us seriously, how the hell do we expect everybody else to.
I can't wait for the day when there is enough pride and anger in every inch of an Indian soul

A wo(a)ndering mind said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
-=A.R.N.=- said...

@a wondering mind
Good to see you back!
Actually I'm getting an overdose of the Obama-McCain rubbish over here in Europe so I can imagine how it probably is in the US.

But the "pride and anger part"...well I'm not too sure.
Almost everyone I know from school/college/work lives outside India so I'm not too sure when we start taking ourselves that seriously :)

Manish said...

Hey Abdul,
i think this is where blogging counts! Helps us re-check how and what we would think then, and what we think now!?
Do u still maintain that it is only the Govt (of India) to be put in docks for repeated failures to prevent the blasts and terror acts in the country?!
Even when the witness and evidences are avaible, how much we the people of India as a whole are together to take actions against the enemies of our peace(if not our nation)?!
:-)