Yet another bomb blast, and this time it was much closer to home than ever before! Compared to Mumbai, Pune is a small city. For every Punekar, the world actually IS a small place. And when the latest act of terrorism hits a place like Koregaon Park, it hits close to home, no matter where in Pune you may live. For me, it was as good as the bomb going off at my door step. I live at a 10-minutes drive from Koregaon Park and have frequented German Bakery quite often in the past. The thought of driving down the familiar lane and looking at the shambles of what was once a bustling tourist spot saddens me.
But this feeling will soon pass—and to some extent it already has—because at the end of the day...it was just another bomb blast! Yes, we're somewhat shaken up because it came very close to affecting our own lives, but at the end of it all...do we really care anymore?
Random acts of terrorism have become the norm. Be it the Bombay blasts, random blasts at Malegaon, stray incidents of bombs going off in trains, or the blasts in Pune the average Indian has come to accept these occurrences as just another extension of his/her life. The last act of terrorism that really shook the nation, and more specifically the state of Maharashtra, was the 26/11 attack on Mumbai. My guess is people's reaction to this particular incident was outrage more because it was so very different from the usual bombings. The sight of the Taj burning after being laid seize by a handfull of terrorists while security and armed forces tried desperately to salvage the situation is one that Mumbaikars will not forget soon. It laid bare the inability of the state and central administration to react to such situations in a timely manner. The average Mumbaikar's reaction to this incident would have been "Yes, I'm angry but I'll take it in my stride!"
This so called "indomitable Indian spirit" isn't something we developed suddenly. We've cultivated it over the years, having been subjected to numerous acts of violence. We've lived through horrendous communal riots; one that was fuelled by misplaced religious fervor and another that was blatantly encouraged by a state government. We open our newspapers every day to news of local thugs masquerading as politicians and indulging in their own acts of violence, all in the name of pride of state. We wake up in a country that is proudly associated with the old adage "University in Diversity" and we begin our days to photographs of well meaning and "patriotic" Shiv Sainiks beating up North Indian taxi drivers and sensationalized news reports of Hindu rioters describing how they hacked their victims to death during the Godhra riots. We are shocked, but we move on.
The oft asked questions these days are, "How can we prevent terror attacks? By being more vigilant? By having CCTVs in more tourist spots?" Perhaps the kind of questions we should really be asking ourselves is, "Though these attacks may be from external sources, aren't they merely payback for the lack of tolerance and the narrow mindedness of some segments of our own population? And, if that is true, can we actually escape this payback?"
In a land where justice is often meted out belatedly, can we escape the factions that choose to mete out their own form of justice? Be more vigilant we must, but what we really need is to be more vigilant about falling prey to our own narrow mindedness, and become truly united in our diversity.
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