I was staying in Marriott, Rome, when chilling news of bombing of JW Marriott, Islamabad first aired on the news channel. I was quite shocked as Marriott was a second home to me this year. And this week, when 11/26 happened in Mumbai, I was more shattered, as Mumbai is like my own city. I studied in Mumbai (NITIE, Vihar Lake), worked near Hotel Oberoi (Ferguson and Co). The marine drive and Gateway of India were two most happening places in Mumbai. I could visualize the sea and sea of people on the seashore on Marine drive where Hotel Oberoi exists.
From last four days, nothing is moving as I simply move website-to-website to get some reassuring news about happenings. My heart and brain was continuous telling me, everything will be fine. Continuous fire, gun battle, blood and dead bodies visuals made me nervous but not out of thought. I was constantly thinking about commoners, brave policemen and respected politicians. ATS chief Karkare, Saluskar and Kamate apart from Unnikrishanan and Gajendra Singh were never so close to my heart and every loss of life for me was looking as personal loss. Brave MARCOS (Marine commandos), NSG, RAF, ATS and Mumbai Police won my heart many times. I read that Foreign minister had tough talks with Pakistani officials and Prime Minister was talking tough enough to ensure the nation. LK Advani and Narendra Modi were out in public and raise their grievances.
We lost quite a lot, Business magnets, foreigners and spiritual leaders and most importantly the confidence of international community, India as safe nation. The economic impact of this whole affair has not been assessed yet. But it is clear that coming time would be tough for Hotel and travel agencies and investors. Economic meltdown would obviously more fluid with this incident. However on sidelines, my brain is saying something, it was slow and creeper thought as my mind was in no mood to listen any advice at this moment, but I realized it is more important then any of the incident which is happening. I realized it was same thought, which came during chilling winter of 1999, when IC 814 was hijacked. The thought was coming round and round. ‘We failed again’, as a nation, we failed again. It is the same thought I know it, I can’t deny and I can’t run away with this, It is same thing, whenever I fail or I see as a country we performed badly, I take the responsibility and now time has come to take the responsibility of each and everything happening in my life, which affect me, that’s why I decide to pen this down and tell my fellow Indians, that we need to take responsibility. We can’t run from this, this happened to us many times. And if we wont learn from history, we will be part of history one day.
We are quite young nation, 60 years of independence and mammoth challenges of population, unemployment, poverty and long standing conflicts with neighbors and within remained unresolved. With global dynamics changes faster the seconds clock, we remained a poor and sidelined nation in global arena. Recent success in economy boosts the confidence of investor, foreign national and most importantly in our own masses. However the incident like 11/26, in Mumbai would put as back 10-15 years in our own growth story. This kind of disturbing news shakes confidence of people within and outside the country. We can always go in one direction and choose to live in fear and feel constant threat and danger. The word ‘Danger’ in Mandarin (Language spoken by Chinese) is made up of two symbols (Mandarin has only pictorial alphabets), one is fear and other is opportunity.
Our response to these coward actions of some extremist determines future of this and next generations. There are chances that we will fail again as happened in past. However we as nation need to take responsibility. However we need to ascertain, what responsibilities, we need to take at various level. We have many layers, which include government, oppositions, bureaucrats, army, police, state governments, responsible media, business houses and then people. On top of that, we need to restore the confidence in the all the layers. We need to start believing that people at every level are doing their best to shoulder the responsibility of building nation.
We have trust in our policy makers. We have trust in the Prime minister and his entire team, though they were primarily responsible for this attack and fall out of the delay and loss of lives. However they have their own stories and we believe in them also. They need to take the actions and build more detailed policy for counter terrorism and ensure day and night the incidents like this should not happen. Opposition has every right to expose the shortcomings of government and when second day Mr. Advani and Mr. Modi started ripping apart the government’ actions, they were also correct. And we trust them also. However instead of just criticizing government they need to go one step further and place a full proof plan and strategy to counter terrorism. Responsible media has to ask this question to them, what is their plan apart from making tougher laws, how they are planning on police reforms or why NSG is just based out of Delhi. The same questions, which need to be answered by government, should pose to the opposition also. The most disturbing news came from Israeli media and Pakistani media, when they said, India has a weak government. This means that Indian government; irrespective from the political parties perceived as the weak in the international media and this perception is continuously growing in the mind of international community. This requires a remedial action at every level.
Our Armed forces remained our strengths from so many decades and it is one amongst the colored feathers in our crown. However army top brasses are answerable of why and how terrorist enters in our country. When accusation like Bangladeshi infiltrators cross the border paying money to BSF personals or drug and explosives smuggling happen across the border with the help of ground officers, leveled against armed forces this needs to be dealt with iron hand. Why NSG reached at 5:00 AM at Mumbai and why only BEST buses were provided to them to reach south Mumbai. Why National Disaster management button was not pressed on time. These are again some questions, which need to be taken more seriously.
Beurocrats and State government should be answerable for statewide security and state cabinet has to take responsibility of any fall out of the law and order situation in the states. However we need to praise RR Patil instead of criticizing him for putting a brave face that the “small incidents like this happens”. And yes this was a very small incident in the date of history. In my view RR Patil is the first politician who came out of the grip of nervousness and said, let we begin the day again, these kind of incidents are not going to bother us or stop us. We are Indians and we will build ourselves faster then expected. However home minister RR Patil cannot shed the responsibility of why intelligence report, which could be utilized to, neutralized extremists in the seawater was not analyzed properly.I hope NSA chief M.K. Narayan is listening that it’s a personal failure, which turned in to national havoc. Other states chief ministers should learn from these mistakes. Poverty, population, health and unemployment are priorities but above all security is the vital for any successful government. US, Israel and other countries have shown this by examples. We should learn from others mistake, so that price remains low. Even after this we wont learn, not only price will be high but we will lose moral to live as a nation
On the other hand, Business and people have to come to the normalcy faster then terrorists expected. We have to send this signal worldwide, that we are back to work and normalcy. We are feeling safe and you will be safe if you visit India and Mumbai, especially south Mumbai. To show a positive fall out of this incident, people should work extra hour, keep shop open for some more time and do business more. As a business traveler, I would keep traveling more and make sure to give the right signals to the people who want to stop us.
Responsible media should engage in the ensuring that every layer is working as per the expectation. Media is horribly wrong in engaging common people in terror talks and asking them for their opinions and forming their opinion against national establishment and politicians. These kinds of talks would make people either criminals or cowards. Incidental bravery would not help nation to reign to her glory. Also responsible media should stop giving same news, same bloody footages, and stories around same plots and sermons what politicians should do. If a journalist thinks that some policy is wrong or some layer is not acting as per the requisite expectation, they can raise their voice in right forums. Igniting masses by mere talking and asking them to take responsibility to play a different role would be very disturbing. Let media restrained by just giving the objective news rather then directing people and if some journalists still have urge to lay down policies or form mass opinion, they should join other social or political organization.
On personal note, Prime minister has to take personal responsibility to rebuild Taj, Oberoi and Nariman House with Ratan Tata and other owners. Just like in 2001, during Gujarat earthquake, then Home Minister LK Advani visited Gujarat as many as 5-6 times and personally supervised the rebuilding activities.
Epilogue:
David Taylor, one of my close colleague from New Zealand was quite shocked, and told me, it has been quite devastating and horrifying incident in Mumbai. As he was planning to visit India, he asked, Is India safe place to go? I told him, oh yes, we are quite ok, we will be able rebuild this in few months, if not days. Mumbai has spirit of running faster then expected after any debacle. India still is a safer place to go and enjoy the world-class luxury. Taj in Mumbai is definitely one of them and it’s my dream hotel to stay.
7 comments:
Great thoughts Jitendra.
I really think that you should go back to India and join politics..not kidding. We need that fire, willingness and leadership to do something for the country.
Raj More
The total outlook you have presented is very well described by the title of the blog itself "Candle in The Wind" ..India as a nation requires each and every citizen to protect this candle of thoughts and to pursue it from within. The post is so close to heart that everybody is able to relate, we are experiencing such thoughts and every loss is equally irrecoverable for all of us who are witness to it.
To add upto it, I would like to mention the men who caught the terrorist Azmal Amir Kasab alive at Girgaum Choupatty while the senior officers of Mumbai police and the commandos of NSG got the well-deserved accolades for their role during the anti-terrorist operations in Mumbai. Little has been written about these junior operatives of the Mumbai police. ASI Tukaram Umble who got hit and Inspector Vinod Sawant, brave men of Mumbai police who captured the dreaded terrorists Abu Ismail who was declared dead, and Ajmal Amir Kasab during encounter when they abandoned the police vehicle which they had been driving after killing its occupants, Hemant Karkare, Ashok Kamte and Vijay Salaskar.
i liked the way you hav put a thought "We can always go in one direction and choose to live in fear and feel constant threat and danger." Further I would like to quote Ratan Tata who put the current emotional state of nation succintly in these words:
"Rather than have us succumb to this kind of terror, what it has done is given us a resolve that nobody can do this to us,"
"We're indignant, but we're not scared. If there's a view that this has pulled us down, I think it will unite the country that much more."
"
Good article Jitendra.
60 years of independence, tons of problems, corrupt politician and bureaucrats, an inefficient governance, very poor legal infrastructure and failed system as a whole.
We are actually living in the age of crisis. There is absolute crisis of moral and ethics in our politician, crisis of ideals among youth and inactive intelligentsia. No one is willing to take responsibility whether it is institutes like education, or politics or social or economical. Religion is lacking reason.
I think we are no more "Bhartiya" we all have become "Indian" whose blood has become white. We are no more a citizen we are merely a "Praja" of opportunistic like Mulayam, Mayawati, Laloo and .....
We as a nation failed to understand the soul of Bharat. Lets accept that our leaders are a failure and very short sighted. Whatever mess they have created , generations will have to suffer. Each and every one who has lost their life in this bloody battle on our soil is our brother and sister. Every brave soldier is ours. My heart is crying for past 4 days and just couldn't believe whatever has happened and not even able to sleep .
It is high time for the youth of Bharat to unite and start taking front stage. Lets not shattered by these cowardly act of these coward people. We are the hope for the future and lets act together to make this world a better place
:) It is a great article and you should really go abck and join politics. But, my friend, 60 yrs is not young. 60 yrs maybe insignificant when seen in the larger picture, but 60 yrs is lot of time when compared to other countries. Look at how much progress other countries made in the same period of time. China, Israel have made tremendous progress in a similar time period.
India just lost its way.......
Hopefully people like you will set it right, if and when you go back and work within the system.
Hi Jitendra. The Mumbai incident has been nothing less than a war. And every Indian gave a war cry to this. There was only one thought in every mind - to protect the hostages and kill / capture the terrorist. THIS COMMON THOUGHT GAVE RISE TO A UNITED STAND...UNITED INDIA. This will surely be a wake up call for India to act tough on the neighbours who are supporting terrorism. We, as a nation, have been too soft for too long. Its time to adjust the intensity as the situation demands - soft for soft..hard for hard.
From my point of view:
We are very much blessed country. We are young nation that is absolutely true. The question of not being at the top is also answerable(rather we can find many reasons or exactly speaking excuses for this).
One significant reason is our education system, which is still mostly based on the methodologies used by British. The objective of that system was to generate a crowd which works on set protocol without having any feeling of a nation and without having creative brains. That's why, most people in our Young country die in the process of earning bread for them and their dependents.
We are blessed in the sense, that we may not be directed in correct direction, but surely we are not moving in negative direction. We are definitely not growing to the pace the rest world is growing but we have potential. Let our inner things help us in deciding our directions not the market forces. That's where we need to feel responsible.
For me lines like:
We lost quite a lot, Business magnets, foreigners and spiritual leaders and most importantly the confidence of international community, India as safe nation.
However the incident like 11/26, in Mumbai would put as back 10-15 years in our own growth story. And
if we wont learn from history, we will be part of history one day.
are little too much lines.
Following line is little lesser but again I again put it in bla bla stuff : Our response to these coward actions of some extremist determines future of this and next generations.
We need to know the signification of appreciation of what we possess and then get some energy with that and look for next higher ACHIEVABLE OBJECTIVE to grow. We need to compete with ourselves not the rest of the world.
We think, we write and we criticize, this is all good but not adding anything other then satisfying so called our inner fire. Every creation needs less words and more action. This is very fundamental. We need to do something.
Feeling of rebuilding shouldn't trigger from events like Mumbai or anything else. It should come from within. The feeling to improve, to be self dependent, to be on the top. Rest everything will follow.
NONE OTHER THEN OURSELVES IS GOING TO DECIDE THE FUTURE OF THIS AND GENERATIONS TO COME.
We dont need rebuilding we need small corrections, fine tuning.
Good words, I was also shocked by the Mumbai incident but I am not at all angry @ politicians. Real culprit is "we", by me I mean 99% Indians. Its "us" who elected these politicians either due to the greed (sometimes for a "pavva"), fear (goonda) or stupid reasons such as caste, religion, subcaste. So "Jo boyega, wahi payega" is very much relevant here for us Indians - cant expect honest and capable leaders if people are voting (for or against) based on who demolished babri masjid in 1992 or who can guarantee "Job Quota" for my caste.
Also, would like to "criticize" media's role during recent tragedy - the Live show, and interview of police officers about there strategies was helping them gaining TRP and also TERRORISTS who were monitoring situation from hotel room TV as well causing public panic around the world. I fully support suggested govt proposal of "Banning" live media coverage of such incidents.
Anyways, as you correctly put it,we use corruption to gain favor at varios levels but criticize pioneers of this art who are leading the country today.
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