The circling vultures…..

Actually there is nothing that can or will ever shake the somnolence of the "system" in India. I have felt this for a while, but now I am only more than sure of it. Of course I am referring to the Bombay bomb blasts ( hell, yes the city was named Mumbai in 1995, after another set of bomb blasts in 1993- somehow renaming and re-claiming city pride was more important that ensuring a more secure city- but I am an ordinary person , what do I know of political strategy). Well Bombay or whatever they will call it now had a spate of bomb blasts in 2002, then 2003 January, March, July, August, 2006 and finally a three day hostage drama that unfolded over a million television sets.

But of course these are always terrorist activities, unleashed to dampen the spirit of the Mumbaikars who set about rebuilding, as soon as one is over. And lately they have been joined by the Delhiites, the Hyderabadis, the citizens of Jaipur and wherever else. And in between when things have been peaceful for too long, the resilience is exercisd by the communal and regional tensions that are incited in the name of an identity (which I would assume only someone very mediocre would want to associate with). And of course the outright "terrorist" activity, that of the hand grenades and bombs is put on Islamic terror, on Pakistan, on the foreign hand.

And it becomes an excellent photo-op for politicians. Because that is what they do. Attend photo-ops. Accompanied by relatives, sons, producers- after making embarrassing gaffes( though the statement, this is a "minor" ting is not such a gaffe- considering the magnitude of what India is subject to- but I digress). With an incompetent (token woman) President- not that her predecessors have been particularly competent. And strangely shameless( what else can you call them) Home Ministers who resign probably because the foreign media starts to criticize them. And still the photo-ops continue. With regret expressing and "deepest condolences" to the families. It is an amazing tableau. And of late it has become more evident what a sham it really is.

Because the "citizen" reactions are of a very scary kind. "Those (insert religion/ region/ country here)". "We are not buying anything from (insert country/ community/ region) because my husband said we should not support any of their business." And so on. Just an excuse for everyone to vent out their ugliest prejudices and stereotypes in the guise of mourning the tragedy. And blame the "system". Because Big Brother like it is omnipresent and yet, as anonymous. Also it is always "someone else's fault" someone else's problem- well maybe not.

What did we do to become thus. India shining, India growing, but India all the same? Why do we allow the circling vultures get closer, ever closer even as we struggle in the death throes of everything that modernity, sanity, normalcy would have us hold on to? And what did we do to deserve this?

EDITED TO ADD: And of late the "common man" has discovered a  new-found passion of trying to address this problem. So there are marches and protests and impassioned bloggers write about "breaking off ties with pakistan" and of war and of 49-0 and other sundry things. I am inclined to feel it is all a fad. Becuase the bomb blasts in Assam after that do not get covered- anywhere- the Orissa homeless are left to their own devices and a stupid politican makes more stupid gaffes and "resigns". And we get back to the daily bickerings that make our lives.

It is a fad of course, and a new way of expressing just how bigoted and nonsensical we have got. "We will not take it. Tolerance, you say, we have been tolerant for 61 years" someone writes to me- have we Really? We still know what religion we are, what caste and subcaste we are of. We still do an "us" vs "them" in daily life and get on. And then blame everyone else except our own selves for the problems. Pakistan is at fault now, later Afghanistan will be, then maybe Somalia and Chad- the whole world is wrong except India of course. 

Oh yes and one more thing, stop blaming the Prime Minister, he is just reaping the seeds of the nonsense the "informed" voters have sowed. And as a PM, he is more qualified than most people are. More than that geriatric face of the communal party specially. Oh and as India goes, a dynasty rule is pretty darn goo din the name of democracy- that dynsty is what has kept us  from slipping down to the military ruled levels of our favorite bete-noir Pakistan- and also maintianing a sense of democracy.

And another thing. The elite may talk all they want. They are not the real India. The real India is poor, uneducated, illiterate and living in abject poverty. And everyone manipulates it. including the doyens of India Shining who have discovered a new Love for their motherland these days.