Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Weep
Yes, life is cruel. Yes, it is extra-cruel in India. Where many people die unnecessarily from road accidents and curable diseases, and many children grow up stunted from malnourishment and no education. And there are all the twists of man exploiting man.
But there is an exceptional malice, it seems to me, in the terrorists' bombs.
Here is a glimpse of a life mutilated and snuffed out, in the bomb blast in Pune on February 13. Abhishek Saxena was a junior at engineering college and the hope of his widowed mother. We are told - that he was passionate about cars, with special inclination towards designing , research and mechanism. "Intensivist Vilas Gundecha, of Inlaks and Budhrani Hospital, said, Abhishek was admitted with severe injuries to the right leg, which required immediate amputation. Following that, he continued to bleed profusely and several rounds blood transfusions (25 bottles) had to be conducted over the past two days. As many as 15 students of D Y Patil College of Engineering , Akurdi, were ready to donate blood to save their friend Abhishek Saxena. But their prayers were not answered as he breathed his last on Tuesday."
In India, far too often reduce the victims of terror are reduced to statistics. A billion people, what's a few hundred lost here or there? I always believed, however, that development is the process of conversion of the masses into people. No one should be reduced to a statistic. At least read their names. Indians are typically named with the names of the divine, or else with names of divine attributes. So reading the names will be a form of prayer.
But there is an exceptional malice, it seems to me, in the terrorists' bombs.
Here is a glimpse of a life mutilated and snuffed out, in the bomb blast in Pune on February 13. Abhishek Saxena was a junior at engineering college and the hope of his widowed mother. We are told - that he was passionate about cars, with special inclination towards designing , research and mechanism. "Intensivist Vilas Gundecha, of Inlaks and Budhrani Hospital, said, Abhishek was admitted with severe injuries to the right leg, which required immediate amputation. Following that, he continued to bleed profusely and several rounds blood transfusions (25 bottles) had to be conducted over the past two days. As many as 15 students of D Y Patil College of Engineering , Akurdi, were ready to donate blood to save their friend Abhishek Saxena. But their prayers were not answered as he breathed his last on Tuesday."
In India, far too often reduce the victims of terror are reduced to statistics. A billion people, what's a few hundred lost here or there? I always believed, however, that development is the process of conversion of the masses into people. No one should be reduced to a statistic. At least read their names. Indians are typically named with the names of the divine, or else with names of divine attributes. So reading the names will be a form of prayer.
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Weep
2010-02-17T19:31:00-05:00
Arun
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Rajan P. Parrikar · 788 weeks ago
http://www.deeshaa.org/2010/02/18/the-uncivilized...
Arun · 788 weeks ago
rajeev · 788 weeks ago
we do not know the names of the 59 killed in the sabarmati express, either. they remain nameless. but not 'unwept, unhonored, and unsung'.
but wait, we do know in great detail the life of ishrat jehan. and afzal guru. and kasab.
there are many weeping for them. isn't the term in hindi 'rudaali'?
Anon · 788 weeks ago
Arun · 788 weeks ago
Guest · 788 weeks ago
Arun · 788 weeks ago
America has spent a trillion dollars, been at war for more than 8 years, and lost more than 3K soldiers (more like 5K), and yet has no great improvement in security.
Going after L-e-T certainly has benefits but there are costs also. There needs to be a public exploration of the costs and benefits of doing this.
Guest · 788 weeks ago
1.clear out the PoK where you have Lashkar-e-taiba trainee programs..which is making their way into India easy...
2. Nail all inbred islamic groups..
3. Equal law for all religions..why does India have to pamper muslims? what happened to uniform civil law?
4. Stern warning to UN/Pakistan - that any incident in India connected to Pakistan(26/11) will ignite heavy shelling! - else pakistan keeps denying even when their Major General Sahib is involved!
5. Create awareness programs in India - educate civilians to be more watchful on suspects and anti social elements.
Vishal · 788 weeks ago
1. USA arm twists Pakistan very hard into cooperating with us. Again, not a very great likelihood of that happening in near future unless India has some pretty big bargaining chip in hand.
2. We wait for Pakistan to distintegrate under the weight of its own internal contradictions. Though I am not sure whether it is such a good idea - having one hostile state to deal with or multiple smaller hostile states with two-bit self proclaimed leader who are again either religious extremists or army officers with their own axes to grind with India..
Till that happens, we just live with terrorist attacks - because we certainly do not seem to have any other policy in place.
Arun · 788 weeks ago