Mumbai On Fire

More than a week after the terrorist attacks on Mumbai, the city still rages. Only this time, the fire is not from a grenade blast or a AK-47. This time, it was evident in the faces of 20,000 odd people who turned up to take a stand against terrorism at the Gateway Of India in Mumbai on 3/12. There were scores of Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Jews, Foreigners, Bollywood actors, families of victims, the poor, the super rich, mediapersons....who stood united, in their condemnation against these ghastly, demonic acts that rocked the city, a week before. The only class of people missing were the ones people of Mumbai unanimously consider the 'lowest form of scum'.......our politicians. Too busy in Delhi trying last ditch measures to save their own unrepentant behinds, these sorry excuses for human beings could not be bothered with things as trivial as showing solidarity with a city shaken. If they had tried half as hard in gathering intelligence on these attacks as they did to cover up their monumental failures, maybe 26/11 would've been just another day in our lives.
All those people who laid their lives were remembered by a city who will never forget their sacrifice. Armed with obsolete and faulty weapons and gear, the policemen fought valiantly, armed with nothing more than their strong sense of duty, the staff of Taj Mahal Hotel and the Oberoi-Trident, as well as the hospital and railway station attacked, saved hundreds of lives. What role did the politicians play? Their insensitive actions like turning up for media ops when the battle was still raging on, playing vote bank politics when the nation needed reassurance, made the average citizen of this country seethe. Voter registration after the attacks has seen an increase like never before, the youth taking to the streets with banners which put the politicians in the same category as terrorists, people demanding accountablity of their tax money, corporate India on the roads staging protests....India is witnessing a mutiny.
Its so ironic that it takes an act clearly aimed at dividing this country, to bring this nation of more than a billion people to stand as ONE.