Random thoughts ... Just aise hi!

The Mumbai mayhem has seen the emergence of strong feelings in "aam janta" of our country.Everybody got rattled out of their dormant existence and wanted their voices to be heard. Through rallies, blogs, SMSes, message boards and what not. It also saw, for the very first time , politicians backtracking from being loud mouths. Guffaws by a few made the already agitated public hungry for the blood of the politicos. And this was a warning sign for the rest of the clan. They decided, it is better to be quiet right now rather than face the wrath of the public outcry. None of them wanted to risk that and we got saved from their useless sound bites.

This time around, people have decided not to be quiet. They are asking questions, demanding for what is rightfully theirs, the "Chalta Hai" attitude has been bid adieu. Everywhere, in offices, homes, chat groups, you can hear valid questions being asked. Nobody is prepared to go through another ordeal like that. And no one is ready to forgive the perpetrators of the bloody carnage that we saw Live on each news channel. The ultimate winners were the News channels. Their viewership surged to 90%. This was Reality TV like never before. People were hanging onto each word of the reporters. I now know the names of mostly all in Times Now and CNN-IBN. Sitting here in Delhi, I went through the varied emotions, the adrenaline rush..... through all these reporters. I also saw, how in the name of getting Breaking News, the media forgets to respect human beings. Some reporters hankering for a soundbyte from one of the Bollywood actors whose family was trapped inside the Oberoi. He was overcome with fear and emotions, but they wouldn't let go of him, even though he was pleading them. How, when one of the hostages came out of the ordeal with his 3 month child after 36 hours, the media wouldn't let him reach the ambulance and get aid for his son. All they wanted to get was juicy tidbits out of this terror struck father. And many many more of such instances.

We also heard so much about the Intel failure of the agencies. But somehow, I can empathise with them. On a daily basis, they get information about probable terror attacks. Sometimes, it may not be possible to track each and every one of them, and try to prevent them effectively. When you have 10 hard-core terrorists who come out in open on the Mumbai street and gun down people, howsoever effective the intelligence report be, it becomes difficult to prevent it. When  these people have embarked on a suicide mission and that too with aplomb and confidence, the only option left is to gun them down. Preventing them from starting onto this is a major task indeed. 

My head is now reeling with more and more inputs but I am just not able to bring it out in words. My heart goes out to those who lost their loved ones. There is nothing more tragic that that. I now value each moment I get to have with my family. Now, when I receive a call from them, I do not ask them to call back later because I am in a meeting. I make it a point to talk to them for atleast 2-3 minutes, to know how they are and to hear their loving voice. The biggest lesson I have learnt is that "Spend as much time as possible with your loved ones. Tell them you love them and miss them when they are not around. Try to bring a smile on their faces. And keep smiling yourself"