Another year, another anniversary – “Kuch nayee baat batao yaarâ€*
More than four years ago, I reproduced a post by Bibhasdas on Bharat-Rakshak on my blog…In his post Bibhasdas gave several reasons for not getting upset (following the terrorist attack in Varanasi). Amongst them, he mentioned:
- These (terrorist attacks) are regular incidences now-a-days which happens almost at few months interval
- State Govt has already fulfilled its duty (by announcing “compensation”)
- Central Govt has done its duty (by sending Home Minister to review the situation and file report..)
- Rashtrapati has done his duty; he condemed the incidence
- Opposition has already done its duty (..called for UP Bandh plus..said that ..govt has failed)
Two years after 26/11, it seems we too have done our duty – by getting angry in the days following the attack, by paying an online tribute to the brave men who died defending our peace..by writing Jai Hind a few times on facebook, by repeating this cycle and getting worked up once again on the first anniversary of the event last year…
Today, 26/11 & the pain, the sorrow and the anger are a distant memory – just as I had predicted almost 2 years ago in a post titled “Forgetting Mumbai“.
Image courtesy: Daily Telegraph, UK
We have forgotten our brave-hearts, the men who went into action even as we were comfortably watching the “attack” on TV. It felt like a war-film, a great action movie…except that this was real..and it was happening in a real place – and real people were getting killed…But the men who died defending our liberties that day are today in danger of becoming nameless and faceless…
These men in uniform, who in the words of my friend Amitabh, “are the last strand of hope before disaster befalls us” – these men who stand between “the miseries aimed at us and our secure comfortable present + bright assured futures” are today in danger of becoming a scribbled-over forgotten footnote in our consciousness…
If you still feel anything for them, if you still feel proud of what they did, if you still feel angry by what happened, if you still feel for India, this, is the time to act…Act *not* by going back to our living rooms and continuing with the TV news, *not* by sending 26/11 emails…*not* by writing tributes onlines – but – as Amitabh said, by thinking, acting and behaving like soldiers…As he wrote, “The more we sweat the less will our friends in uniform would bleed“.. And as he reminded us:
Things are going to get worse before they can get better. For the past 10 thousand years we have been faced by the most challenging situations and we have stood firmly against them because we always had a soldiers “willâ€. Let us bring it back from within ourselves…it exists deep within us….we could not have survived for 10 thousand years beacuse we were non-violent or “peace†was our weapon. The fact is, we struggled and braved all attempts to relinquish our honour.
We need to bring that “will” back…We need to make sure that 26/11 is never repeated..We need to remember the ones who did not live to see the sun rise the next day…We need to remember the parents who lived to see their sons come home wrapped in a tricolour…we need to remember the rage, we need to remember the anger…and the hurt pride…Let this not happen again. Never again.
Additional reading: Tackling Terrorism: One Step at a Time
Related Posts:
Terrorist Attack in Mumbai – Part II
Jihadi attack in Mumbai? – UPDATED
Mumbai Attacks, 26/11 etc – Part III
“Remembering Mumbai†– in London, 5th Dec
Remembering Mumbai – in London, 26th Nov
* The title of this post was inspired by this piece I wrote in the aftermath of the terrorist attack in Hyderabad in August 2007: Another day, another blast – “Kuch nayee baat batao yaarâ€. A slightly edited version of this post appeared on the “Indian Army Fans” page & the || Satyameva Jayate || page on facebook with the title, “Is getting angry now politically incorrect?”
Quite true, the WILL to fight has to be brought back & put to use for the right purpose..Jai Hind..Vande Mataram
Nehi, please baat mat koro, aab kuchh koro. It is about time. We do something or declare this country as un-protected and negotiate with wannabe jihadists so that they get designated dates each year when they will be free to do whatever they want to the citizens of this country.
I can still feel that horrible sad day and the tears. And never want to forget also.
Never forget. Keep the pressure on the media and politicians to make them accountable for the actions in response to the terrorists.
India has taken a reactive stance to all these actions. We need to be proactive and hit early to prevent such incidents and put the fear of God in those a-holes.
Any idiot who makes statements like ‘India Pakistan are brothers’ or ‘Pakistani citizens shouldn’t be blamed for terrorists’ should be slapped silly.
Yup I’m ending my rant here otherwise will end up sending a hate email to some minister and cause a ruckus 🙁
I know the feeling of the fear it gripped our minds on that horrible night and day and the continuous rigour of the 72 hours it took the police and military and forces to overcome the terrorists.
We were forced by our company not to leave premises as we were in a sensitive zone near the airport. The canteen ran out of food stuff, toilets ran out of water, people ran out of smokes and it was a long night of vigil and wait.
How can we forget 26/11 wawww its big shame and failure for our Indian Congress Government even now Govt did not provide proper Firearms eg..,AK47,Light machine Gun to our special security forces for protection.But our Indian Govt spend billions of dollars on their own luxurious life(Cars,Bungalows) they got nothing to do with Citizens they are least bother about people of India and we remember how 26/11 Rascals ruined Hotel Taj Mahal and Oberai with explosives this has turn out to be headlines on every newscast and newspaper all over the world but our security system could do nothing about it with their old rifles.But terrorism is never defeated by decapitation alone…but by breaking the cycle of recruitment, indoctrination, training and operations. We’re a long way from understanding the process, much less countering it. Our main motto is to progress our security system by granting instruction to special forces with latest armaments.