Fighting the enemy outside and inside

7

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Rewind to 26th/27th July - 12.20 am- Its my roomie on the phone-

"hey Smits we at Pindis for dinner ..u wanna join in?

..."I would have but just that I am in the studio for last three hours "...

she asks - "But why?"

... "hello.. ain't u aware of blasts in Ahmedabad this evening?

40 killed and more than 100 injured..toll rising every minute...there's high alert in the country...

Delhi on red alert..u watch out'

..."What!! ..am clueless.ok ,I'll call u back...need to check on my cousin in Ahmedabad..."'

and even as she disconnects...I hear a man in the background letting hell loose upon

the waiter for the pooor service in the restaurant..

Well, I do not blame my roomie or other people for being where they were at the time referred to ...

and it's not even unusual for a large population to be completely ignorant that a city bleeds

at a particular point in time. After all everyone has a right to unwind after a hard day's work.

Nor is it possible to be clued to 24/7 news channels round the clock for latest information.

But what does come to the mind and worries is, have we become passive in our reactions?

Passive to the extent of becoming insensitive?

Do news of deaths, disaster and destruction actually shake up our conscience now?

Is it not true that to most of us so engrossed in our day to day schedules...news of a blast is passe?

Okay ...another blast..a,b,c city ...x,y,z people dead..ah..that's bad...anyways..whatever

Some even joke...not to exclude us mortals of the media fraternity itself..

ah only ten dead! that's not good enough .

It wouldn't be wrong to say ..till the time a close one is God forbid wounded ,or living in a terror target city,

we hardly sit up and take serious view of things.

Is that what resilience is all about? Or are we confusing resilience with compulsions...

compulsion to cling to so called normalcy?

Images of locals on the spot rushing victims to hospitals are common seen. We salute the Samaritans.

Ofcourse one might ask from us miles away from the terror scene ..what is there that we can do exactly?

It's not just about the physical presence..it's about asking oneself..what if my city is the target tomorrow?

What if I am next? would I know how to deal with such a situation? Or should I wait for crisis to be my teacher?

Am I alert enough about my sorroundings? Would I keep my eyes and ears open for any suspicious details?

If I were to spot one, would I set my skepticism of the police systems aside and inform concerned authorities?

How many times have I called up blood banks in my city and asked If I could be of help?

Can we not take few minutes out of our packed routines and try and know our neigbours and strenghten civilian networks?

And how often have we actually closed our eyes and prayed silently, even if for a few minutes, for those who

have lost their loved ones and whose lives have changed forever?

I neither want to sound cynical nor too preachy like for my age.

But having said that, we need to realise that life is precious..so is every moment..

definitely we cannot afford to panic..we cannot let fear to take control of our lives gifting the

terrorists a reason to celebrate.

No..we can't let them triumph...but we can't lose out on humanity..we can't let complacency get the better of us..

Or individual acts are not the reply to organised acts of heinous crimes. But then we shouldn't even blame solely

the system for everything..we are also the system and we need to

play our roles,howsoever inconsequential or trivial...they might seem. We need to fight.

Surrendering ourselves to situations and accepting everything as it is, is as bad as allowing fear get the better of us.

We have to demand for better conditions, for secure sorroundings, for better social environment for one and all,

voice our concern on issues that affect us and our future generations...

Above all.. We need to live, not just from our homes to offices to clubs...we need to Live Life.