its just another day for you and me in paradise...

i am normally not too much of a tv person...but i have been glued to the tv ever since early afternoon when i switched it on because i was bored out of my mind.

there were FIVE grenade blasts just a little before noon today at srinagar, which took the lives of 8 tourists, added to which were more than 30 people who were injured. most of the victims are said to be from west bengal. i was really worried and felt awful. i didn't know anyone in kashmir so i wasn't personally worried about anyone, btu just worried for all the people going through this every single day of their lives, knowing that only a millionth of what they go through is reported and the rest is never even seen or heard of.

strange was the way i heard about the SEVEN mumbai blasts. as aforementioned, i don't watch too much of tv, so i didn't switch on ndtv till about 8pm. my dad, ( who is in the US) called me to ask if all my cousins in mumbai were fine and i hadnt the faintest clue what he was talking about. thats when i switched on the tv and i was shell-shocked. i know lots n lots n lots of people in mumbai so the levels of worrying this time were much much more. i called everyone i could, but didnt get through most. thank god for sms's coz somehow they kept flying back n forth. everyone i know there is well. (thank god for that!). Fate seems to play such an important role as well. as cliched as it may sound, i heard soooo many stories of how " i was supposed to be on that train but wasn't coz i was late/ didn't go to work" etc etc... and one cant help but be reminded of this famous saying "raakhe hori maare ke. maare hori, raakhe ke." for those who don't understand bangla, it simply means that if God wants to save you, nothing can come in the way and if God wants to kill you, nothing can come in the way either.

i am so so so angry. may be my anger makes no goddamn difference. but i am still angry! 5 blasts in one place and 7 in another!!! the most obvious thing to do of course it link the two... it is too much of a coincidence not to. its not just the people who have been injured or killled who are "victims", anyone in these cities with a heart wil be more than deeply affected and shaken up. imagine not being able to travel by the local train, one of mumbai's defining features, which until today you thought were perfectly safe!the only thing which is making me even more angry than the blasts themselves is the fact that the blasts at srinagar seem to have receded into the background because of the ones in mumbai. honestly, how many people were even shocked about the blasts at kashmir. it seems to be such an everyday affair that we often wonder "whats the big deal!" point is. it is. all of this is. mumbai, srinagar, lahore, paris, london, new york..........anywhere...everywhere..
i am not given to tears very easily but when i saw those mms's people had sent in to ndtv, and heard the eye-witness accounts, the tears came rolling down. some one or the other will lay claims on their great act of bravado/vengeance/teach-india-a-lesson ..but what's going to change thereafter? is anyone going to stop any of it? are the people responsible ever going to repent? is it just getting worse from here on? are we going to content ourselves by simply blaming pakistan for it all? and, more importantly, how long will this remain in the minds of those who have not been directly affected by this..? in a rather morbid way, terrorism across the world seems to be fighting to achieve the position of the "worst terrorist attack in history" ...and soon enough tomorrow if there' s another attack in X place and XYZ number of people get injured and killed, people will have forgotten about mumbai and srinagar..and worry about X, till Y comes along and catches up!

i keep thinking if calcutta could be a target some day.



"Oh think twice, its just another day for
You and me in paradise
Oh think twice, its just another day for you,
You and me in paradise....

Oh, lord is there nothing more anyone can do?
Oh lord there must be something you can say?"
(-Phil Collins)