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The terror Inside
Ranjita Biswas
Terrorists have no nationality. They kill people propounding some ideology or the other but basically, they are nothing but thugs; they are people with a criminal bent of mind who are just the material bigger criminals under the veil of some ideological sermon look for them, who are bad apples anyway, to fight their proxy war.
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The terrorised have no nationality either. They are united in their grief, frustration, anger, and the same sense of helplessness at times. That is why a terrorist act in one country immediately echoes in the sensibility in people of another country even though they are not directly affected. They wonder fearfully if it could have happened to them too; whether their near and dear ones could be victims too- somewhere- sometime.
Though I was far away from the country, in Stockholm alongwith many participants from East Europe and South Asia for a prgramme, the day 26/11 happened made me feel the same way- I was one of the victims of the terrorists. My sense of outrage, anger and most of all- an utter sense of frustration and helplessness thinking of those trapped inside the hotels and those lying in pools of blood at other locales the criminals had targeted made me one of them, even if not physically. All that night through as we Indians were almost in tears, colleagues from other countries called from their rooms, dropped in to express their solidarity with us. We frequently heard comments like ‘We know how we feel’, ‘We too have gone through terrorist-attacks’ etc.
Next day as I walked on the freezing streets of Stockholm, everyone, from the shopkeeper to the café owner, from the Iraq-origin vendor selling mufflers at a square to a fellow traveller on the subway who kindly lent his cell phone when I wanted to call our group leader, instantly expressed sympathy as soon as they came to know that I was from India. The Swedish media was covering it extensively too and they knew what was happening. A woman asked me tentatively, ”Will it be safe to go to India? I am planning to go to Chennai, and maybe Kerala.” I assured her, absolutely! After all, where in the world you can really feel safe these days?
Which is in a way is the most frustrating thing. You realise that you are living in an age, pundits would call it kaliyug, when living life on the edge has become almost an accepted reality; fear of the unknown dogs mothers with kids, young with a future to build up, and you feel sorry for them that they are growing up in such a strife-torn world and they will have to cope with it.
Yet, when I think of all those people in the foreign land immediately bonding with our sadness, when I read even after all the destruction the Taj Hotel is ready to open before Christmas, when I read people crowding the Leopold bar at its first opening, and VCT bustling once again, I feel reassured. Fear is not a static state of mind; the human spirit is. Revenge through force is not an answer either. Like the raktabeej, every drop of blood from the demon giving birth to another demon, violence ultimately seldom achieves its purpose. That is not to say giving in meekly to the perpetrators is the answer. But a lesson learnt and character-building are perhaps far more effective ways of taking on a handful who try to wreck the society-anywhere.
After all, criminals and strifes are not something new ; they have been there throughout human history. How we tackle it is more important than give in knee-jerk reaction.
While the foreign hand in the recent event is indisputable, for us it is also time for a lot of introspection. Back home, I could read in detail the ‘human’ story, the inexcusable lapses by agencies who we trusted would protect us from such happenings, the bunglings, the shameful instances of funds being spent on buildings and cars for the bigwigs while the foot-soldiers had to fight with antiquated firearms and non-functioning bullet-proof vests. Yes, it is also time to look inwards and our character as a nation.
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