Terror Strikes!

Here we go again. Trying to make sense out of what happened. Trying to look at the bigger picture. But as they say, you cannot see the forest for the trees. Why place the blame on the politicians? We are the ones who elected them...
Each time there is a terror strike, there are a hundred fingers that point in every direction possible...while there are scores of hundreds that will never see the beauty of the morning sun again.
We feel angry. Insecure. Terrified. Helpless. Determined to do our part.
And what do we really do?
Talk about it over coffee and then forget something like this happened...till the next time terror strikes.
We say we'll stand up against terrorism. But do we know how?
We say kill the terrorists, make the politicians resign.
But how many of us are willing to leave the sanctity of our homes, jobs and families to join the NSG or the defense forces ?
What did u say? You aren't fit enough??
Ollie Krata...join politics instead..
It's a dirty job? You don't want to get your hands soiled? You'll never survive there? You don't know how to get there? You need the right references?
STOP ALREADY!!!!!
We have the questions..we need the answers.
If you don't have any, don't insult the ones who gave up their lives by talking about them just to while away your time.

I have made my decision. I know the answers to the questions that haunt me.
And I will do my part. I swear.

India - Then & Now

Once upon a time, before the world was demarcated by border lines and religions and Earth was taken over by the Human Race, there existed a tiny magical kingdom called India.
India was so named after its beautiful and generous queen, Indiana.
The inhabitants were a mixed lot consisting of elves, brownies, pixies, ghouls and goblins.
There were only two humans in the entire land.
The Queen, Indiana ; and a wizard, who went by the name of T.Ray.
Those were magical times when feelings such as jealousy, hatred and discontentment were unheard of and everyone was equal. Nobody was poor because nobody was rich. Even Indiana led a simple life, inspite of the fact that she ruled the land and could have had anything she wished for.
But she lived in a small wooden cottage where she grew pink and white lilies in the front lawn and a small vegetable garden in the backyard.

In India, the daily assembly addressed issues that were settled in front of the whole kingdom.
The inhabitants helped each other whenever they could and feelings of animosity were alien.
The only person who was not satisfied was T.Ray. A wizard by birth, he was the most powerful man in the entire kingdom and was called whenever someone was ill or needed a stroke of good luck.
The wizard secretly desired to be the King and make radical changes throughout India. He wanted to drive out the goblins from the land and assign important positions to the elves, who were an innocent lot and worshipped and admired the wizard because of his magical powers.

One day, after much deliberation, the wizard decided to speak to Indiana and to show her a magic preview of what the ideal India would be like if only she would let him make a few changes. He knew he would never be able to fulfill his dream without her consent, as Indiana was the most powerful woman in the entire world and nobody ever dared to refuse her word.
The wizard woke up early in the day and got ready for the daily assembly.
By the time he reached the assembly venue, the daily issues had been resolved. T.Ray-the wizard, went to see the queen who welcomed him, unaware of his propositions.
The wizard explained to her how beautiful a world he thought it would be, if they drove out the goblins from their land.
Indiana listened to him patiently and tried to reason with him, telling him all living beings had a right to live wherever they wanted to and that the great kingdom of India had never discriminated against any section of people. She warned him that such an action would cause unrest among all the inhabitants and disturb the peace.
But the wizard was not willing to listen.
He thought he had formulated a perfect theory for existence and felt insulted that Indiana didn't welcome his views.
Finally, when Indiana saw that the wizard was not going to relent, she started fearing the outcome of his obstinacy.
She banished T.Ray from the kingdom forever and asked him to leave India within the next two days.
Feeling dejected and insulted, T.Ray experienced an alien feeling take over his entire being. Always hailed as the wisest man in the entire land, he had not foreseen the possibility of the Queen declining his suggestions.
Anger and an urge to wreak havoc began to dominate his thoughts and he vowed to avenge himself.
He went down to his basement where he stored all his magic potions and brews and began to practice his black magic.
T.Ray concocted a strong magical potion and with the help of a few of his faithful elves, sprayed the potion over every vegetable garden in the entire kingdom, with the exception of the Queen's garden which was always heavily guarded by the ghouls.
Within the next one day, every brownie, pixie, elf and goblin had eaten from their vegetable gardens and the magic potion sprayed over the vegetables made every inhabitant go mad.
They started behaving in a most peculiar fashion. Arguements and disagreements became commonplace and everyone resorted to reacting violently at the slightest provocation.
The only unaffected people were Indiana, because she consumed only the vegetables which she grew in her own private garden which had not been infected by the magic potion; and of course, the wizard himself, who had by now left India.
It didn't take long for the queen to realize what had happened and she immediately issued a series of edicts governing public safety.
But now, since she was the only one left who could think in a rational manner, her words of wisdom were misunderstood by the inhabitants and they together stormed her cottage and beat her to death.

Elsewhere, the wizard saw in his crystal ball all that had happened due to his magic potion. He was not a cruel man, just greedy for power and status. He started repenting all the trouble his actions had caused and his guilt for causing Indiana's death became so enormous that he went into solitary confinement and his mind deteriorated. He became a mad man and lost all sense of reason. He travelled all over the world looking for Indiana to appologize to her. But Indiana was already dead and the kingdom of India was being divided again and again - sometimes by the pixies, sometimes by the goblins, till all that was left of it was small pieces of land that its inhabitants called States. The pixies stayed in one state, the elves in another, the goblins in yet another and so on. Nobody came for anybody's assistance.
The effects of the magic potion were so strong that it had now permeated itself into the very soil where all vegetables were grown.
Everyone went mad and behaved in as violent an irrational a fashion as they could- sometimes in the name of religion, sometimes in the name of politics and sometimes without any excuse at all, till the very name of India was wiped from the face of the Earth.
And what happened to the wizard? Well, that's another story altogether.......

Kingdom of Far Far Away

Is your dreamland very different from mine?
Or do you too believe that a universe sans terrorism, hatred, economic meltdowns, religious wars, rape, child abuse and the like can exist?
When we were younger our mystical wonderlands had fountains of our favourite ice-cream sodas and houses made out of cheesecake. The inhabitants were talking animals and elves and pixies, thanks to a healthy overdose of Enid Blyton's books.
My dreamland now is not nearly as imaginative as it used to be and not half as colourful.
All I want now is to wake up in the morning, reach for the newspaper and quickly get to Calvin & Hobbes without stories of mass killings staring at me from the front page.
We were always taught that "India is a secular country."
I'm not too sure.
There are minorities in our country that have been economically deprived for too long, politically marginalised for decades, emotionally thrashed till the time weak-minded individuals resorted to terrorizing their own countrymen. And we want to believe that we are secular, democratic and progressing?
I don't know much, I agree.
But I do know that no-one, absolutely NO-ONE is inherently ruthless and mean. No child is a born murderer. If our people have lost their way, maybe somewhere we are at fault too. Why else would they listen to someone who believes that terrorizing innocent citizens is the only way to get closer to "God".
I don't know anything about what they call "Jihad." I don't know anything about what they call "Hinduism."
But yes, I do have faith in the men who continue to guard our borders witheir lives. I have faith in the people who come together after a tragedy irrespective of each other's religion to lend a helping hand.
And I have faith that someday we'll see the Kingdom of Far Far Away in the distance.
And if donkey asks ,"Are we there yet?":
Maybe someday I'll be able to say yes.