13 more blasts in Assam! Seems like Diwali will never end. The fireworks have been on throughout the year. The Muslims have this perennial problem with religion-bred-terrorism. There are a majority who are peace loving muslims. But because of a certain section of demented extremists, it is diwali for India every day. You dont know where the next blast is, maybe just around the corner. You don't know whether you will make it back home in your office clothes, or in a polythene bag, with your clothes.
The other day when returning home, I stopped at the red light of the Inorbit signal at malad. Just in front of me stood a bike, with its bearded rider. The back of the bike had a sticker of the trademark Shiv Sena tiger, all growling and wild. Suddenly, this guy in front of me yanked out the side-stand, left the bike leaning on it, and walked away. Just imagine leaving a bike just like that in a busy junction. He walked towards a few bhel-puri stalls on the pavement and disappeared into the crowd. I was bewildered. In many of the blasts that had happened all over India, the bombs were planted on bikes and cycles that could be easily abandoned in a busy place, without anybody even getting a whiff of what was conspiring in the shadows. The engine serial nos/registration nos. can be easily filed off to prevent detection and tracking. I looked at the bike and the small carrier box that it had fixed below the pillion seat, and considered possibilities of what all it could carry. Bomb kept coming back to my mind, like I was stuck in a loop! Bomb. Bomb. Bomb. Bomb. The Shive Sena sticker on the bike and the beard on the man made me even more uncomfortable. Maybe it was a muslim extremist who was out to frame Shiv sainiks in what would be known as the Inorbit Signal blasts. Maybe the Shivsainiks had finally decided to retaliate by entering the blasts business themselves. Whatever it was, it kinda scared me.
After a few anxious moments of craning my neck to see whether I could spot the alleged bomber, I saw the man re-appear, emerging from the crowd like a water in a Sahara desert tap. I was relieved. He probably had gone to the loo for a leak, and had inadvertently scared the crap out of a genuine alert citizen ;) of this country.
Jokes apart, many people today would have reacted to this situation in the same manner. This just goes to show the subtly developing fear psychosis in our people. In a country where we could just go about anywhere, without even thinking twice, we now live in constant fear of the next blast. When would it happen, where would it happen, who would die etc.
What are the rulers of this country doing? Where is the security? After the 7/11 tragedy in the US, could anyone even burst a single Lavangi within the country? If they could do it, then so can we. If not immediately, eventually. But there has to be some positive movement toward that eventuality. That positive movement, my friend, is what I never get to see in this country of mine. I may sound like a synic, but believe me, this is optimism.
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