Tulika Haldher
22:30, Jaipur
The war in Mumbai has finally ended after three days of continuous struggle. But the the silence that prevails is equally frightening than the mayhem that went on. The CST station is buzzing with life even after the horror story but there seems to be an eerie silence that is dominating all the noise. The people are frightened as if waiting for something to happen the very next moment. The mouths are shut but the eyes continue to talk. Questions, terror, anger. They have it all.
A visit to the lobby of the Trident tells another story that is very similar. The huge hall has a carpet of blood. The walls charred with a thousand bullet marks. The blood can be cleaned, the walls repaired and life will move on as usual. But what's dead will not come back. The laughter that echoed in these halls, the wishes that were given during a celebration, the promises that were made to the beloved just before the attack, are dead forever.
The Taj palace and Tower stands tall. A few blemishes, some broken walls and unrepairable funiture. The victory is visible on its face. But it came at a heavy price. I saw a picture of the pigeons flying amidst the smoke in the dome. Ah! Pigeons. Such a beautiful sight in front of the Taj. But now even the pigeons are not looking beautiful. Every movement they make seems like a warning for something worse to come.
They call it the infallible city. But somehow the spirit of the city seems to be dead. Amidst the silence, there are screams everywhere. Screams that speak of the thousand losses, a million broken dreams and infinite promises that were never made. The unheard screams are deafening...
Saturday, November 29, 2008
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3 comments:
After every dark night, breaks the dawn and as they say everything happens for good. I think, many many grave tragedies sturck a country but failed to shook our souls so much, somehow. Surely courtesy media boom, the war has reached our bedrooms and in turn our hearts. Each one can feel the pain of other, listen to the silent screams and see the dark. Finally it has made way to our hearts - no pun intended at all - so that we wake up, from being used to the mishaps and do something. The small tini-mini bit. And if not then at least start thinking.... have already, started talking about from where to alter things, tighten the strings. What's lost can never be repaired but a new day has come - brightened with the enlightened minds of concious Indians.
"The unheard screams are deafening..." the country has lost more than 4000 lives since 2004, second only to war ravaged Iraq.
But so far we have been sitting ducks for these killers and after every attack we keep on talking abut 'spirit of life' and 'resilience'.
It should now or never.The best defence is to be offensive but unfortunately those are in the power or out of the power do not have balls to do it.
'enough is enough'.
Yes,"The unheard screams are deafening..."
But "Every dark cloud has a silver lining.... " let us all make a referendum that we r not going to remain weak n vulnerable to repeated assault but to triumph over terror by overcoming the exploitative politics of caste creed and ethnic division.
So we the citizenry should galvanize into action......and wean the terrorism.
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