Ramblings

I heard about it from my friend Reto, just as we were setting out for Greenville, SC, to spend Thanksgiving break at my friend Meha’s home. From then till now, slowly, even painstakingly, but inexorably, layer by layer, my stoicism has been stripped away. It is a common refrain in India, that we know terrorism, that we are used to it. But what happened in Bombay has shaken me to the core; and this when, thankfully, no one I know personally was affected. Only once before have I felt so destitute of hope. And that was 7 years ago. That day it took a while to fully comprehend the nature of the attacks perpetrated. The planning, the preparation, the execution, and the outcome, each only became progressively clearer as the day unfolded. Bombay followed the same pattern, except the realization was even more laborious, the horror even more prolonged.

For 60 hours Bombay burned. For 60 hours Bombay lay hostage to people bent on total destruction. 60 hours during which men, women and children were mercilessly massacred, maimed, and scarred for life. 60 hours that exposed the glaring inadequacies in the way our State handles crises. 60 hours during which heroes were born, even as other heroes laid their lives on the line…and lost them. 60 hours that exposed our media’s opportunism and lack of ethical standards.

60 hours.

Bombs go off in a matter of seconds. They are terrible, but the moment of terror is fleeting. One is confronted by the aftermath almost immediately. But in Bombay, the terror itself was never-ending. What will the aftermath of such a terror be? We are entering uncharted territory.

Yes, there will be changes. Many are warranted—a federal counter-terrorism agency, increased emphasis on intelligence, debates on ethical journalism, debates on our political system and politicians, increased international cooperation, and so on. Other changes such as increased restrictions on urban life and movement have to be resisted on principle, and perhaps only applied after rigorous debate and out of absolute necessity. But when all is said and done, these responses only address the symptoms of a malaise that runs much deeper.

Those 60 hours did not just expose us; they also exposed an enemy that is desperate and utterly pathetic. Islamic fundamentalism, based and operating out of Pakistan/Afghanistan, and likely funded from elsewhere as well. But Islamic fundamentalism does not operate in a vacuum. There are other equally desperate, equally pathetic fundamentalisms. Every religion has a fundamentalist nut-job strand. These fundamentalisms feed off each other. Godhra cannot be separated from the recent spate of blasts, or from Bombay. But fundamentalism cannot defeat fundamentalism. And perhaps even more importantly, fundamentalism is not something that needs to be defeated. It needs to be repudiated, rejected. It has no place in the world we live in today. This is a struggle of the mind and it cannot be fought just with guns.

Bombay will hold its head up, it knows no other way. But when as human beings will we?