I fail to understand!!!

I fail to understand

Today as I was browsing through the newspaper, I received a message from a news alert site. Before I could actually read that one of my friend guessed the content of the text. He asked in a very plain voice, “Where did the blast take place this time?” I was totally taken aback by his intuitive statement. How on the earth could he guess that? How on the earth could he say with such a confidence that it was about a blast once again. I was still under the shock when the other when said, “don’t worry this isn’t a major one. Only 5 died.” This was it. I couldn’t take it any more. One person talks about the blast without even looking at the news and other is so happy that only 5 died. I sense a weird and eerie atmosphere around me! What is wrong with these people? What was it that made them speak in such a cold manner about something which just tears me apart? Are they so insensitive about the deaths caused by these awful attacks by the so called terrorists! Or, probably have they very easily included the bomb blasts in their daily news gossip. On one hand I find people coming on streets to show their loyalty and unity. While on other hand I find politicians putting this under the category of a small and a trivial event (no matter it cost him his seat). I simply fail to understand the complexity of the human nature!!!
While the recent series of terrorist attacks have cost us a number of lives and a huge loss of property, what concerns me more is much beyond that. What are these terrorists up to? Do they want to kill people and destroy property? Do they wish to prove their power (or cowardice)? Do they wish to show that the current socio political set up is no more efficient enough to guarantee our well being and safety? Or are they trying to disrupt the very basic foundation of human setup and social understanding by waging a psychological war on the common man. I once again fail to understand the complexity of the terrorist’s psyche!!!
The recent attacks have put a few very serious questions on some of my beliefs, rather, the common man’s belief. More than 450 NSG soldiers took more than 50 hours to fight 25 terrorists of just around 24 years of age. And when we analyze the end result, we find no one alive in the nariman house and many killed in Taj. I do not question the courage and bravery of the soldiers. I never can. But I wish to ask the concerned authority why had our soldiers to halt when it was dark. With a huge chunk of government expenditure on defense, why couldn’t we afford a night vision and a bullet proof jacket for our comrades?
Another aspect of terrorism which concerns me is the economic feasibility of the activities. If we were to study the cost they incur in these attacks we could be taken by some real surprise. To carry out the acts of terror they indeed have a very strong source of funding. It is on the country’s government to find out the source and tackle the issue as soon a possible.
Terrorism has its toll on all the aspects of our life we could possibly think of. It affects our economy, political environment and our very legal strata. But more than anything else it affects our social and psychological set up. Probably this is the reason why a common man now has accepted terrorism as a part of his life and is so very complacent about it. Probably this is the reason why we are least bothered about what happened, a week after the incident. Probably this is the reason why the most of the people actually spent the whole day watching movies and surfing on the net and a few studious ones took the chance to complete their pending works. I don’t blame these people for what they do. In fact they are no way to be blamed for if the government itself takes a lackadaisical attitude towards such incidents what is a common man supposed to do. To be honest even I spent most of the time in my room. Unlike others I didn’t even bother to sit glued to the idiot box and listen to what was happening in taj or oberoi or trident. I again fail to understand the actions of people around me!
More than 15 major attacks on the heart of our motherland since 2003 and yet we have the same reactions from the same kinds of people around us. A political figurehead would come and condemn the terror attacks while the foreign minister of the other country will boast of donating 1 bottle of his blood which he feels would bring life back to more than 200 people dead and many more injured. To add to it our so called responsible media will telecast this very new for one full day. I feel ashamed. I feel so not just because I find people around me doing such heinous acts. I feel ashamed not just because I too am a part of this very social setup. I feel ashamed not just because we were the ones who elect these so called “leaders”. But I feel so because I still do not have any solution to this issue. I still haven’t taken any step on my behalf to move ahead on the path of a terror free society. I still haven’t come out of my room to see what can we young hearts do to solve the problem which our so called elderly leaders haven’t been able to. More so because I am still a part of that crowd which just shouts and tries to voice against what is happening and never trying themselves to be a part of the solution. But I fail to understand why others around me do not feel the same? I fail to understand why I was being mocked at when I was trying to write down what I feel? I fail to understand why students try to create a divide on the basis of which state is one from? I fail to understand why we all plead for safety when none amongst us is actually ready and willing to serve the defense force? I fail to understand why people only expect and never really give?
But I do understand one very important thing. And that, is if now we do not understand, “what I failed to understand” then probably, none of us would be there to understand, what I always wanted everyone around me, “to understand”. I know it’s difficult for you to understand what I was trying to understand while I wrote this but if at all someone understands what I was trying to, please help me out. May be it could bring about a revolution, something which we all understand.




SRIRAM AGRAWAL