Saala Bh@#$%^&*

I don’t usually use swear words, but this had to be; maybe the most appropriate response from a guilty and absolutely angry man. I was guilty because, whilst like every Indian, I was furious and angry at what happened on 26^th November in Bombay, I almost forgot about it just a year later. Forgot not the incident; as a matter of history, but the anger I had felt.

This morning I received the latest ‘India Today’ with the Bombay Terror attacks as the cover story. It spoke about the renovations at the ‘Taj’, the new equipment provided to the police force, the coordination between our security forces, as also the yet up-paid dues to the victims. I felt both ashamed and angry at myself. Ashamed, because I have gotten so used to people across the country being killed, that I can’t sustain the anger over any one incident, and angry because I really want to now.

I wish there was a way to not get complete immune to the anger and pain that one feels when something like this happens. It is also anger and pain that drives us to take on challenges that an otherwise ‘cool’ mind can’t face. Ask the wife of the police officer; who dies of bullet wounds that were caused because the so called ‘bullet-proof’ jacket didn’t work, if she is angry. Or the parents of an army Major, who keep the half empty bottles of their son’s deodorants safe, because this reminds them of how it felt when he was still around.

I wish a lot of us were angry.

Angry enough in the government.

Angry enough in the law and order machinery.

Angry enough as citizens.

Angry enough.

Saala Bh@#$%^&*.