The siege is over, What now ?

Had been glued to the TV set at home and the internet at work following the developments in Mumbai. This was the worst nightmare. Probably every other Indian's as well and perhaps of all peace loving citizens of the world.

To see it come to an end was the biggest relief ever. But even as I saw the seige come to an end there was this vaccum in my mind. I mean a vaccum. Couldn't really rejoice the victory of our brave soldiers who fought to protect every man/woman they can and eliminate the last of the terrorists. I feel indebted to them. What could I ever do to payback some respect except stand in silence and salute. All of them, irrespective of the colour of their uniform, command my respect. I am proud to have you defend me brothers.

My heart feels for the families of those who have been affected: killed or injured. Life is never going to be the same for them, ever. The only wrong they would have done that ill-fated day was to live it like the day before that and get caught in a mindless pattern of attacks leaving their loved ones bereaved.

They weren't alone in leaving us. Brave constables and officers from different police wings of Mumbai who marched forward to shield innocent civilians to fight the terrorists only to realise that although their intentions were right, the weapons they were carrying were too un-sophisticated to tackle those ill-minded scroundrels, fell down to the bullets from automatic weapons.

In the days to come we would get to know more such stories of bravery, of men who laid down their lives to guard their fellow's. These stories will all die down one day. But there is something that would refuse to go away. A sense of vulnerability that the people of our country feel. And the sense of satisfaction perpetrators of those attacks cherish.

The truth of the day is that we are becoming soft targets more and more. The slew of attacks this year alone is proof enough that they are getting at us at will. I know its not easy to admit it, but thats how truth is. And thats what it is. When I look at that picture of the terrorist with a gun in his hand at the CST I feel agitated.

Understandable because its only just a day and a half since the incident ended. But the thing is I am afraid this feel would go away soon. I do not want it to go away. Not that I would resort to doing something myself but I do not want to put myself in the same bracket as those of our leaders namely: Shivraj Patil who would not leave despite his obvious failures and inability to tackle terror, Manmohan Singh who doesn't have the guts to say 'enough is enough, get lost' to his Home Minister and Sonia Gandhi who is the most powerful of the three but does not care a dime to do something about this headless minister who is responsible for each one of our lives and safety. She probably thinks 200 lives in a country as big as ours is not a big deal.

Whoever the blame falls on, the axe is really falling on our people, attack after attack, incident after incident. I am not expecting radical action but rapid action to put in place better systems and mechanisms to confront such barbaric attacks on us before they infict the kind of damage they intend to. This would not happen in a year or two, but like JFK said 'LET US BEGIN'.

Should we not start doing it we would lose badly, more so in the years to come. A proud civilisation that taught the world would go down in history as a nation that never learns.

This perhaps is the right moment to renew the old and buried cry : Jai Jawan Jai Kisan Jai Bharat.