the rape of a country

a friend of mine asked me "have you been blogging recently (about the blasts)?" i shook my head and said "nope. everything i want to write, has already been echoed in many many forums, and how. so let's see."

i have read MUCH over the past week. anki's blog was one of the first blogs i read, and which truly touched me, for its simplicity. i have been following rahi's blog and adi's blog quite religiously over the past week. I wasn't brave enough to see the news for hours at a stretch, preferring to go to my beloved rediff.com for regular updates instead. i read the newspapers, read many a sad story of brave people and everyday Joes dying because some sick people decided to bomb Mumbai. 

There are many stories which broke me apart and tugged at my heart. Aashish Chaudhary's story. The story of a family friend's son's friend who went to Leopold for a coffee and died. The  IITian who was supposed to be married in a week to his college sweetheart and died on the spot at Leopold. Baby Moshe's story hurt tremendously, because right when I saw his cute little face on the television, oblivious to the fact that his parents will never come back again, I was playing with my seven month old nephew. The story of the Taj manager, who saved many, but whose wife and children perished in their suite. 

Children have been orphaned, parents have been left childless. People have lost their spouses and best friends. Lives have been ruined, scarred forever. It's a horror, a tragedy which surpasses 9/11. 

I am one of the lucky people, whose life hasnt changed much over the past week. A surge of emotions has come about, just like it did during the Delhi Blasts. There is immense anger at the politicians (i dont even want to start about them- this is the reason why im so apolitical and i declare all politicians chors.) I feel helpless at the idea that anyone can come and rip my country apart and all we can do is watch, because our leaders are too busy engaging in personal vendetta and minting money. I feel hatred towards the governments that have allowed terrorist camps to mushroom rapidly. I am tremendously sad, for all the people who have been hurt by this, directly or indirectly. I feel proud of the average people of my country; the policemen, the NSG commandos, the staff at the hotels, the people of the sikh community who tirelessly served food and drinks to the commandos; i salute the many nameless souls who will perhaps never get a mention for their deeds. It's people like these, who are the soul of this country and who are perhaps, the only hope left. 

I don't know how much good political resignations will do. I don't know whether these rallies that citizens across the country are organizing will be effective. I don't know whether these forwarded mails, appealing to everyone to mail their local MP and the PMO, will be worth anything. 

But i hope it all works. Let there be no more Baby Moshes.