Nov 23, 2009

6. remembering 26 november 2008......

Remember Remember the 26th of November......

I would like to trace back to The Day a year ago, to try and recollect what were the things that I was up to and what went through my mind on The Day when the whole of India watched helplessly, what a Group of Evil Men [Its the intentions of their Mind that were Evil which makes them the Evil Men] were doing.... when I look back today, its perhaps because of what those Men did, that I remember a lot more things about The Day and even the day before, than what I would otherwise have.....

Before I begin about the day in the picture, I would like to add a li'l preamble, with a small flashback of the day before the actual DAY..... I find it really important for me to talk about the day before, as That Day would have been the topic of today's discussion If what happened This day wouldn't have happened.....yep I'll now call the day's by the names we know rather than This Day and That Day as I'm pretty sure it would confuse the reader. What I meant by what I said was that, If it wasn't for what happened on 26th of november, I would have been talking about the 25th of november, today instead of the 26th of November. I'll still talk about the 25th of November but will restrict myself only to the most important things of the day....

It was only later in the night of the Day before 25th of november, that it was decided that i travel to Chennai for a regular site visit.... well, not a regular time to decide the time of travel, but we still call It the Regular Site Meeting. Yes, once again I jumped back in time, Now I'm talking about the night of 24th of November. When the decision comes so late, that you travel the following day, its hard to even imagine that you wake up on time the following morning to catch the train scheduled to depart before the sunrise....

On the morning of 25th of nov, as expected the train departed as per schedule before the sunrise and I woke up to seen the sun.... Since i was to be at the site on that day for the site meeting, I did make an effort to go to the train station and took the next train out of the town.... You know it was inevitable for me to not take the next train out of the town, as I couldn't have gone back to the office and told them I missed the train because I was fast asleep.... It wasn't untill I was aboard the train and travelled some distance that I figured out that It was a passenger train scheduled to reach Chennai well past Sunset....

Wow, believe it or not, this journey, of the many that I've made to Chennai was the most memorable one, for more reasons than one..... First of all it was an unreserved general ticket that I was travelling with, that brings me in contact with people from all possible diversities that our country boasts off.... As usual I had my newspaper with me for company for sometime, for I fall asleep everytime I read.... I wouldn't be elaborating much about the journey or the Train or the Junctions the train stopped by or the things that I noticed at all the stations or the unseasonal rains that poured down from the dark clouds - hoping for a better place to fall or the people I spoke to or the two kids at one of the junctions playing with each other like there's no tomorrow or the rain drops through the window grills waking me up everytime I fall asleep or the cigarettes I smoked at all the stations, The movies that I watched on the way - I was carrying my office laptop, I mean these are the things that make the journey that much more special and memorable....
Finally I reached Chennai late in the night, now you must be thinking what happened to the site meeting that was scheduled for the afternoon, well It didnot happen.... I was informed that my boss would be travelling the following morning i.e. 26th of November, for the client meeting, so I was asked to prepare some details for the meeting.... I went to hotel, booked my room, only to spend a night in the darkness. As the whole City of Chennai was submerged in the rains. In the dim light of the candle that burnt itself to keep me in light for the best part of the night, I did manage to pull off some of the important details for the meeting the following morning....

As I told you earlier had it not been for what happened in Mumbai on 26th of november, I would only be talking about 25th of november than 26th of november, It was just one of those regular days for all the indians until late in the evening, I must say it was not a usual day in Chennai for sure. After the adventures of travelling in the rain drenched Chennai roads for the meeting that went off pretty well, I was informed by my boss That MUMBAI was under attack..... we were glued to the TV at the client's house for the rest of the night only to find that It wasn't going to be a single day affair. The saga continued for three days....


India witnessed one of its worst terror strikes and many parts of Mumbai were held hostage, Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, the Oberoi Trident, the Taj Mahal Palace & Tower, Leopold Cafe, Cama Hospital, the Nariman House, the Metro Cinema, and a lane behind the Times of India building and St. Xavier’s College were attacked by the men who entered Mumbai near the Gateway Of India.... It was a moment when the whole nation came to realise, that India was our home, all Indians were part of a large Family with larger internal differences but today we had Intruders.... Intruders with intensions of raising havoc at our Home.... Hundreds of people were Killed and many were injured, Death came calling not just the helpless people at the CST but the rich and the powerful at the Taj too. [anyone interested for more - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Mumbai_attacks#Entry_into_India ]

We lost people, people who were strangers, who will remain strangers but now we know them and remember them as Strangers who died on that fateful day. Some of the officers died for the cause of saving the helpless people in the mindless shooting spree of the terrorists.... It was heartening to see that people from all over the country coming out in large numbers to light up a candle in memory of the dead strangers, But how long can we go on lighting candles, holding rallys, signing up electronic memorandums to the authorities to take action against the offenders.....

Today after a Year, we have a captured terrorist being interrogated for where he came from, who sent him here, what, how, when ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? are we still searching for the answers or is it time for us to find our own solutions, rather than requesting Uncle Sam to interfer and solve our problems.....We claim to have enough witness to nail the offenders but end up submitting a dosier to the offenders who claim that the witness is insufficient..... At times it makes me wonder if at all our Judicial system is capable of delivering Justice at all, earlier this week we had the report tabled for the demolition of The Babri Masjid - which does not name a single individual as offender..... and the irony is that it took 17 long years to submit a report to the center. There have been many instances when there have been offences within the country, for which we have not been able to stand up and say, this is wrong and you are culpable for your acts......

Today We know Ajmal Kasav better than the officer who captured him, the officer who captured him was given a reward, but not given the necessary equipments to fight the offenders if confronted once again....are We prepared just yet to prevent something similar from happening once again..... its quiet natural for us who never faced the terrorist face on to speak our hearts out against the Man and condemn him for his acts and seek death penalty for the offender, but wasn't he always prepared to die when he decided to be part of the sinful mission.....

If a nation of more than a billion people can only stand together when a group of Evil Men set out to create Havoc and mass destruction, I feel its time for us to come together to stand for what is RIGHT rather than coming together against what is WRONG.... thats exactly what we did long ago to gain our Independence.....

Remember Remember the 26th of November, it was a Wednesday............. I Personally enjoyed tuesday......
I would like to end this here as I'm feeling sleepy, with something that a girl who confronted a terrorist at the TAJ said, "there's no point in killing the terrorist, the problem is terrorism".....

2 comments:

  1. ri blogalli atleast evuthu nenne nale nennegintha munche anda bardu confuse madbedri

    ReplyDelete