Citizen Cognizance
In today’s troubled times, the air is rife with mixed emotions of fear, hope, anger, frustration, helplessness, loss of faith and skepticism. As the noted industrialist, Srichand Hinduja pointed out recently; maybe it all happened for the larger good of world society. Indians were not the only ones killed in the attacks. Some visitors from the rest of the world also lost their lives and some more were very grievously injured. All those who survived and went through the trauma in the line of fire will carry the nightmarish experience all their lives.
The corrupt politicians always will continue to harbor their vested interests, the media will tend to be crass, the blame games will continue but at the top of it all, the emergence of a world code to snuff out terrorism is vital. To my mind, this emerges from the average person on the street.
As Citizens of India and the world at large, we need to be Cognizant.
The global society indeed did wake up for the first time to the carnage at Mumbai albeit it was ravaged with mindless acts in the past. This time around the difference was that the enemy was there to see as the acts of terror were unleashed on innocence.
India was plundered and pillaged many times so in a way, the rape of our nation has been a continual occurrence. But in a more stoic sense, we hid the scars and moved on without a whimper. But not anymore!
Every Indian should take it upon themselves to watch their back. The average person on the street should be more aware of their responsibilities towards the larger interests of society. We should stop disrespecting ourselves by making sure we adhere to the rules of the land. So hopefully, we will witness a lot less lawlessness on the streets. Fewer traffic lights being jumped, lesser road rage, better civic sensibilities, etc. A lot of self tuning will need to be done by each of us. Indians are proud people but somehow, the pride gets buried in diversity.
We need to be…
~ Cognizant of our Responsibilities towards our Society (and not just for ourselves),
~ Cognizant of the Reality of the Threat(s),
~ Cognizant of the Gravity of the Resolve we make as People of India,
~ Cognizant of the fact that Nothing is to be Ever Forgotten,
~ Cognizant of having the Grit to Give it Back,
~ Cognizant of Safeguarding ourselves,
~ Cognizant of Civil Citizenship.
The mayhem that unfolded across 10 odd locations in Mumbai and on India that fateful Wednesday night will remain etched in the minds of all of us.
Let’s remain Cognizant!
Jai Hind!
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Friday, December 5, 2008
India Irked! [Part II]
India Irked!
Political Pandemonium
In parallel to the Media irrationality, the Politicians of the world’s largest democracy proved yet again that there can be no ilk like theirs anywhere else in the universe, leave alone the planet.
Their time-tested modus operandi invariably adds to the confusion at Ground Zero and they just don’t realize what they are up to. They paraded themselves only to be chided and hated for their insensitivity to reality, for their audacity to disrupt the proceeds (as the already spent security force is stretched thanks to them in the hour of crises) and for their incompetence to work together to prevent the continual violation of India in recent months.
We were born in a free society and we always took our freedom and peace for granted. And so should it be! But with each passing month with incidents related to terror and with each passing day with incidents relating to lawlessness and crime, no longer am I inclined to believe that our children will grow up in a safe society unless something drastically effective in set in place. Our internal law and order situation is a squalid reality while the external perpetrators continue to sharpen their knives and point their guns at us compounding the security situation. Who is responsible for the gradual erosion of the organized society? The Political Establishment which through the years ensured that India will remain divided on the issues of caste, sect, religion, etc without any remorse at all. Instead, we much rather have the Political Establishment work towards making India a nation that the world will want to live in. On one hand, we send an unmanned mission to the Moon and on the other hand, we can’t even protect the borders of one of India’s largest cities. What a shame!
I remember my childhood and teenage years as a period of carefree fun and frolic. My parents were never worried if I didn’t return home after play till the late hours of the evening. And those were the times when we had only Doordarshan for entertainment, landlines were not part of most middle class homes and mobile phones were unthinkable. Yet the friendliness and warmth of the society in those years (‘70s & ‘80s) makes us wonder if we would have been better off at status quo than not having taken off post liberalization. As a parent today, I know life can never be that way ever!
The son of the CEO of a multinational company gets abducted in broad daylight, a media professional gets shot on her way back from home, tourists are molested on the pristine beaches of Goa, a retired army general gets car jacked on his way back from a party… the list is endless.
In these times of global terror, we are increasingly being perceived as a soft target for our over-resilient, overtly tolerant approach to dealing with the forces of disruption. We need better rules, we need more order than chaos and more stringent laws that are enforced without exception. We really don’t care how it is done as long as it is done. We do not want to be the prey on another occasion to mindless savages who believe in salvation through barbaric inhuman acts.
Any self-respecting individual owns up to his/ her mistake when pointed out. But these leaders of society are so immune to the expectations of the citizens of India that they keep proving it to us time and again they simple don’t get it! Every politician should be made accountable for the charter they are responsible for. Ideally there should be a review mechanism (just like the corporate world works on numbers), so that they can be made more accountable for the initiatives that they lead.
What we witnessed in Bombay was the unsolicited carnage of innocent lives and the complete annihilation of our faith in our National Leadership. The Media is still having a field day tossing up the Politicians in a slug fest on issues relating to National Security and the ‘Whodunnit’ factor. They continue to mock themselves and the politicians with needless verbal aggression and reckless finger pointing.
India needs to shake itself off these elements that are pulling it down. India needs to develop a code of conduct to enable us to function cohesively as a progressive nation. We should set aside our differences and should work to reawaken our collective will to fight back. We are down but are not out and we will never be so.
Political Pandemonium
In parallel to the Media irrationality, the Politicians of the world’s largest democracy proved yet again that there can be no ilk like theirs anywhere else in the universe, leave alone the planet.
Their time-tested modus operandi invariably adds to the confusion at Ground Zero and they just don’t realize what they are up to. They paraded themselves only to be chided and hated for their insensitivity to reality, for their audacity to disrupt the proceeds (as the already spent security force is stretched thanks to them in the hour of crises) and for their incompetence to work together to prevent the continual violation of India in recent months.
We were born in a free society and we always took our freedom and peace for granted. And so should it be! But with each passing month with incidents related to terror and with each passing day with incidents relating to lawlessness and crime, no longer am I inclined to believe that our children will grow up in a safe society unless something drastically effective in set in place. Our internal law and order situation is a squalid reality while the external perpetrators continue to sharpen their knives and point their guns at us compounding the security situation. Who is responsible for the gradual erosion of the organized society? The Political Establishment which through the years ensured that India will remain divided on the issues of caste, sect, religion, etc without any remorse at all. Instead, we much rather have the Political Establishment work towards making India a nation that the world will want to live in. On one hand, we send an unmanned mission to the Moon and on the other hand, we can’t even protect the borders of one of India’s largest cities. What a shame!
I remember my childhood and teenage years as a period of carefree fun and frolic. My parents were never worried if I didn’t return home after play till the late hours of the evening. And those were the times when we had only Doordarshan for entertainment, landlines were not part of most middle class homes and mobile phones were unthinkable. Yet the friendliness and warmth of the society in those years (‘70s & ‘80s) makes us wonder if we would have been better off at status quo than not having taken off post liberalization. As a parent today, I know life can never be that way ever!
The son of the CEO of a multinational company gets abducted in broad daylight, a media professional gets shot on her way back from home, tourists are molested on the pristine beaches of Goa, a retired army general gets car jacked on his way back from a party… the list is endless.
In these times of global terror, we are increasingly being perceived as a soft target for our over-resilient, overtly tolerant approach to dealing with the forces of disruption. We need better rules, we need more order than chaos and more stringent laws that are enforced without exception. We really don’t care how it is done as long as it is done. We do not want to be the prey on another occasion to mindless savages who believe in salvation through barbaric inhuman acts.
Any self-respecting individual owns up to his/ her mistake when pointed out. But these leaders of society are so immune to the expectations of the citizens of India that they keep proving it to us time and again they simple don’t get it! Every politician should be made accountable for the charter they are responsible for. Ideally there should be a review mechanism (just like the corporate world works on numbers), so that they can be made more accountable for the initiatives that they lead.
What we witnessed in Bombay was the unsolicited carnage of innocent lives and the complete annihilation of our faith in our National Leadership. The Media is still having a field day tossing up the Politicians in a slug fest on issues relating to National Security and the ‘Whodunnit’ factor. They continue to mock themselves and the politicians with needless verbal aggression and reckless finger pointing.
India needs to shake itself off these elements that are pulling it down. India needs to develop a code of conduct to enable us to function cohesively as a progressive nation. We should set aside our differences and should work to reawaken our collective will to fight back. We are down but are not out and we will never be so.
India Irked! [Part I]
It has been nearly 10 days since the bedlam of terror hit our shores in a manner which stirred up a nation. We have been cowed down by a bunch of heartless individuals who in their insane judgment dreamed of disrupting the collective conscience of India. Yes, we are a scared society today and India is irked beyond measure.
Media Mayhem
While India bled in Bombay, the Media channels portrayed the 60-hour siege of Bombay as a real time movie which was broadcast into millions of homes across the world. And what a sham it was. While the heart bled and the eyes wept, the mind was raging with anger, disgust, dismay, disbelief, shock and hopelessness, all leading to a crescendo of emotional and apolitical outrage.
What started as ‘Breaking News’ ended up being a ‘Broken Affair’ with the very aspect of freedom that we were so proud of. The Free Press made a mockery of the very art of reporting. Top anchors with a pedigree of many awards inadvertently made us realize how crass insensitivities towards those affected, the lame verbiage that mocked at the anguish of the pain we were feeling as a nation, the inept attempts to rationalize, further deprecated the well intended reporting motives of the media.
It was an asinine race to be the ‘first to report’ and to have an ‘exclusive’. Frankly, I don’t think any Indian really cared about these trivialities. The media got their TRPs soaring but they ended up denigrating themselves and fell over each other to bring us the latest. Being professionals, didn’t they have the basic sense to refrain from beaming live pictures when the forces were fighting a faceless enemy within the corridors of the star hotels and people died earlier on the streets and railway platforms. What is ironic is that they actually reported that ‘they have been asked’ by the NSG to stop the live telecast as suddenly someone realized a ‘little too early’ that the media shouldn’t have been doing this in the very first place. Initial kudos turned into chaos. In the midst of all this relentless ‘me-first’ reporting, the media leapfrogged itself into ignominy.
The Media should be slammed for their insensitivity and over-sensationalism. They are for sure the masters of speculation and the stalwart anchors pitiably try hard to pin their guests down in a manner that is quite irascible. They are short on patience, don’t let people finish their points of view (I know they have to keep an eye on the clock) and are quite judgmental to the extent that they feel like the makers of ‘what is supposed to be done’.
Not once during the three days, did I see any of the leading channels talk about the fact that terror was unleashed on a nation and that India was under siege albeit at Bombay. The headlines screamed breaking news on ‘War on Mumbai’, ‘Mumbai Attacked’, ‘Maximum City under Siege’ etc. Should we be telling the custodians of free speech aka the Media that the nation comes first and everything else follows.
India was violated yet again. India was ripped apart once more. India was targeted. And the jealous neighbor is zealously involved!
Even after the perpetrators were snuffed out, the media went on about how Bombay has been crippled yet again and about how this city known for its ability to bounce back with to do so with elan. The thought of India was nowhere to be heard or seen while the anchors took turns lambasting everybody in their tired stupor to make an impression. And on whom?
Then, at the Taj minutes after the siege ended, there was more ineptness on display garbed in a cloak of impalpable disbelief. Barkha Dutt in her hoarse, anguished voice (which I am praying in retrospect that it was not put on), asks a fireman at the sea facing corner of the beleaguered Taj soon after the perpetrators were vanquished, “Please, please say something.” The fireman tries in vain to walk away while saying ‘No’ to her request. Ms Dutt has her way and points to the 1st floor and asks him about the fabric rope made out of bedsheets which is tied to the window – “Is this the way the trapped guests escaped?’ Obviously, the fireman nodded in agreement and then came the shocker of the century. Ms Dutt reported, “So this the way the fire department helped the guests get out of the Taj.” I am sure the fireman and his department folks would have cringed with utmost disrespect Ms Dutt for her intelligent inference.
For God’s sake, the very purpose of the Free Press is to give a voice to the common man, the average person of society and NOT put words in his mouth. They are meant to mediate and moderate, not to intervene and irritate. They are meant to make the unheard heard, the unseen seen, the unspoken spoken and not to desecrate the very spirit of the freedom of expression. They need to realize that they have a far greater responsibility than what they currently seem to fathom – towards the society, towards the nation and towards themselves as well.
As we bled, India invoked the resolve to fight back.
Media Mayhem
While India bled in Bombay, the Media channels portrayed the 60-hour siege of Bombay as a real time movie which was broadcast into millions of homes across the world. And what a sham it was. While the heart bled and the eyes wept, the mind was raging with anger, disgust, dismay, disbelief, shock and hopelessness, all leading to a crescendo of emotional and apolitical outrage.
What started as ‘Breaking News’ ended up being a ‘Broken Affair’ with the very aspect of freedom that we were so proud of. The Free Press made a mockery of the very art of reporting. Top anchors with a pedigree of many awards inadvertently made us realize how crass insensitivities towards those affected, the lame verbiage that mocked at the anguish of the pain we were feeling as a nation, the inept attempts to rationalize, further deprecated the well intended reporting motives of the media.
It was an asinine race to be the ‘first to report’ and to have an ‘exclusive’. Frankly, I don’t think any Indian really cared about these trivialities. The media got their TRPs soaring but they ended up denigrating themselves and fell over each other to bring us the latest. Being professionals, didn’t they have the basic sense to refrain from beaming live pictures when the forces were fighting a faceless enemy within the corridors of the star hotels and people died earlier on the streets and railway platforms. What is ironic is that they actually reported that ‘they have been asked’ by the NSG to stop the live telecast as suddenly someone realized a ‘little too early’ that the media shouldn’t have been doing this in the very first place. Initial kudos turned into chaos. In the midst of all this relentless ‘me-first’ reporting, the media leapfrogged itself into ignominy.
The Media should be slammed for their insensitivity and over-sensationalism. They are for sure the masters of speculation and the stalwart anchors pitiably try hard to pin their guests down in a manner that is quite irascible. They are short on patience, don’t let people finish their points of view (I know they have to keep an eye on the clock) and are quite judgmental to the extent that they feel like the makers of ‘what is supposed to be done’.
Not once during the three days, did I see any of the leading channels talk about the fact that terror was unleashed on a nation and that India was under siege albeit at Bombay. The headlines screamed breaking news on ‘War on Mumbai’, ‘Mumbai Attacked’, ‘Maximum City under Siege’ etc. Should we be telling the custodians of free speech aka the Media that the nation comes first and everything else follows.
India was violated yet again. India was ripped apart once more. India was targeted. And the jealous neighbor is zealously involved!
Even after the perpetrators were snuffed out, the media went on about how Bombay has been crippled yet again and about how this city known for its ability to bounce back with to do so with elan. The thought of India was nowhere to be heard or seen while the anchors took turns lambasting everybody in their tired stupor to make an impression. And on whom?
Then, at the Taj minutes after the siege ended, there was more ineptness on display garbed in a cloak of impalpable disbelief. Barkha Dutt in her hoarse, anguished voice (which I am praying in retrospect that it was not put on), asks a fireman at the sea facing corner of the beleaguered Taj soon after the perpetrators were vanquished, “Please, please say something.” The fireman tries in vain to walk away while saying ‘No’ to her request. Ms Dutt has her way and points to the 1st floor and asks him about the fabric rope made out of bedsheets which is tied to the window – “Is this the way the trapped guests escaped?’ Obviously, the fireman nodded in agreement and then came the shocker of the century. Ms Dutt reported, “So this the way the fire department helped the guests get out of the Taj.” I am sure the fireman and his department folks would have cringed with utmost disrespect Ms Dutt for her intelligent inference.
For God’s sake, the very purpose of the Free Press is to give a voice to the common man, the average person of society and NOT put words in his mouth. They are meant to mediate and moderate, not to intervene and irritate. They are meant to make the unheard heard, the unseen seen, the unspoken spoken and not to desecrate the very spirit of the freedom of expression. They need to realize that they have a far greater responsibility than what they currently seem to fathom – towards the society, towards the nation and towards themselves as well.
As we bled, India invoked the resolve to fight back.
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