BOMB-(d)AY !!

I really did not make this blog to be a journalist reporting the ugly side of the city I was born and brought up in.

But I guess life has delivered what it had to and not its our turn to maturely handle it.

Since yesterday the Media has been bombarding photos and videos of the gruesome and brutual bombing "Mumbai 7/11" as they called it.

Thankfully people I know family, friends were spared this gruesome tragedy. Some told stories of being just a train or two ahead or behind the unfortunate train. Some even spoke of being in the same train but in some unaffected compartment. People discussed day long over the jinx which has hit Mumbai last couple of weeks with floods, rioting and now this.

Today I googled the net for all the photos of the tragic events. I was looking for something in al lof them. Keeping with my philosophy to put up that one photograph that captures it all. Finally I found it from one of those sites - I have put it up here.

This captures the essence of the city I live in. Human Enterprise. I heard so many things all through yesterday and today, about how the Islamic terrorists did it. I read Muslim boards condemn the bombing, the US doing that, Pakistan and even all the terrorist outfits doing that !!

But this photo says it all. The bombs shook an entire city, entire trains, and entire population. The bombs not only shook and tore apart trains but shook and tore apart families still trying to figure out why this had to happen to their loved ones.

One thing which did not shake was the spirit of this lovely city. Yes this city has bad roads, a bad government, a lousy municipal corporation, bad drainage, worse town planning. We have a polpulation problem, unplanned infrastructure. Evertything is bad - AGREED !!
But the one factor which makes this city so unique and dear is this spirit of the people who live here, who have made this their home.

This photo is so spotaneous - a disaster strikes and people just rushing in to save whoever they can, picking up body parts to search for life. There is no police or any other government agency taking care. People are not just on-lookers - but they are the real heros. I wonder when all these feet were running to the site, the hands helping - would a momentary thought have come to their minds - hey this is a a Hindu or a Muslim or Hey I belong to this political party or that one.

It is unfortuante but true, these are those times when the real spirit of India comes out. The Western world is perplexed what keeps this country of diverse cultures, religions and languages together ? They will find their answers at these times, in these photos which captures the essence of India which kept it together through hundreds of years of conquest and foreign rule.

And amazingly these are the same people who riot, who indulge in arson, like on Sunday. This only exposes the damage which is systematically being done by political parties with vested interests. Why else would the same people kill the very same people they are saving today ?

And this also lays to wastes arguments given by the intellectual class saying that it is the lower, illeterate, ignorant sections who act like animals. I do not see a single intellectual guy here and neither do I see any animals here. I can only see anxious faces and extended hands reaching out to help - eager to save a life.

I see hope in this image - that all is not lost. I read daily on the struggle between Israel and Palestine over the kidnapping of a soldier. Its a war, the people are divided deep within their souls.

World - Shake and Bomb Away As Much As You Can. You will only shake the earth and the sky and the sea. What you will never be able to shake is our spirit ! We are One People !