India stands united remembering 26/11
How different would things have been if all the people eligible to vote would have voted? We would have, at the very least, been able to gauge the complete public sentiment. Alas! It was not to be.
THERE WAS such angst and fervor as Mumbai took to the streets. Every class, every creed was united, up in arms against the corrupt politicians. And it did bear results.
Rarely before in Indian history did a terrorist attack help remove a Chief Minister and a Deputy Chief Minister. Rarely was there ever such a unified response by a public hitherto entangled in communal tensions. Maybe that just made us kick back and rest.
Come 26/11/2009, an year down the line, the anger and the fire is missing. Who would have thought on the fateful day of that rally that those very people, protesting with all their might, with their hackles raised would have committed such a folly?
I refer to the voter turnout in the Vidhan Sabha Elections held on October 13, 2009. 48 per cent Mumbaiites voted. Mind you, this is 48 per cent of people registered to vote.
So if you add up those eligible but too lazy to vote, the figures plummet further. How different would things have been if all the people eligible to vote would have voted? We would have, at the very least, been able to gauge the complete public sentiment. Alas! It was not to be.
This was the opportunity to manifest the feeling, the anger of the December 03 Rally into concrete results. This was the opportunity to take a stand and prove that we are not just a bunch of candle - lighters.
Maybe we are just that. It is sad commentary on the people who went down fighting. A shame, really.
This also brings me to the issue of Cop - bashing, which people indulged in after the attacks. It is so ironic how compartmentalised we are. Outlook magazine's recent issue brought to light that the force was under equipped on the fateful night of November 26, 2008.
So people lambasted the police for not being equipped, for not having the infrastructure. But there is also a different kind of underequipment in the police, which we willfully ignored. Mumbai has 40000 cops 40000 for a population of 2 crore.
For perspective try this: New York has 37000 cops for a population of 80 Lakhs!
When was the last time we discussed about being a cop in our colleges. When was the last time you heard about kids aspiring to be cops?
Not too often, I guess.
Yes, the government goofed up. Yes, the police was caught napping. Yes, the Mumbai spirit prevails. But where was the citizen when it was his / her turn to stand up and deliver?
Maybe we're just a tad too pre - occupied with lighting candles.
Lets make a solemn promise today. A promise not to live from disaster to disaster, not to wake up only when we have no option to. Let's try and make a difference in the calms between adversities rather than being jolted every time and having to bear that feeling of having coming up short.
Yes, together we can!
Come 26/11/2009, an year down the line, the anger and the fire is missing. Who would have thought on the fateful day of that rally that those very people, protesting with all their might, with their hackles raised would have committed such a folly?
I refer to the voter turnout in the Vidhan Sabha Elections held on October 13, 2009. 48 per cent Mumbaiites voted. Mind you, this is 48 per cent of people registered to vote.
So if you add up those eligible but too lazy to vote, the figures plummet further. How different would things have been if all the people eligible to vote would have voted? We would have, at the very least, been able to gauge the complete public sentiment. Alas! It was not to be.
This was the opportunity to manifest the feeling, the anger of the December 03 Rally into concrete results. This was the opportunity to take a stand and prove that we are not just a bunch of candle - lighters.
Maybe we are just that. It is sad commentary on the people who went down fighting. A shame, really.
This also brings me to the issue of Cop - bashing, which people indulged in after the attacks. It is so ironic how compartmentalised we are. Outlook magazine's recent issue brought to light that the force was under equipped on the fateful night of November 26, 2008.
So people lambasted the police for not being equipped, for not having the infrastructure. But there is also a different kind of underequipment in the police, which we willfully ignored. Mumbai has 40000 cops 40000 for a population of 2 crore.
For perspective try this: New York has 37000 cops for a population of 80 Lakhs!
When was the last time we discussed about being a cop in our colleges. When was the last time you heard about kids aspiring to be cops?
Not too often, I guess.
Yes, the government goofed up. Yes, the police was caught napping. Yes, the Mumbai spirit prevails. But where was the citizen when it was his / her turn to stand up and deliver?
Maybe we're just a tad too pre - occupied with lighting candles.
Lets make a solemn promise today. A promise not to live from disaster to disaster, not to wake up only when we have no option to. Let's try and make a difference in the calms between adversities rather than being jolted every time and having to bear that feeling of having coming up short.
Yes, together we can!
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