Indian Mentality

The incidents that have taken place in the last few days have been really troubling to say the least. That it invokes anger would be a mild way to describe the emotions of an Indian living anywhere on this planet.

The post-siege incident which caught my attention was the renewed "Quit India" movement by our fellow inhabitants of Indian soil in Mumbai. I have to say that it’s a great start. Kudos to all of you for being concerned about Mumbai's security. I definitely understand the seething rage all the Mumbaities have against the perpetrators of the heinous crime of such magnitude. I am glad that there is finally an initiative to rid the society of corruption and devil-may-care attitude of the politicians, the red-tapism that exists even to have the basic amenities. Hope all this anger doesn't fade away and there is a sustained call for change from the very bottom to the very top.

As I am happy about the reaction to such atrocities, it makes me sad to find out that people in Mumbai have woken up now because somebody did something bad to them. Where were these people when Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Jaipur and Delhi were bombed in the not too recent past? Even when bombs went off in the suburban trains in Mumbai there was no outcry. Where was their cry for "Quit India" then? Is this how you show you are patriotic? Is this patriotism? I guess not, if you were you would have raised your voice when other cities were bombed. Kashmir has been under relentless terror attack since God knows when. No one, as much as sighed about the atrocities. Are we united? Is this the way to be? If one is patriotic, then crimes against the nation, against citizens of this great nation, anywhere should be questioned and condemned.

There was a killing a few years back, that of a Civil Engineer from Bihar. His mistake was to question the mishandling of funds or something to that effect with regards to the Golden Quadrilateral project. No one would have known he was killed if he hadn't graduated from IIT. The Infosys chairman, Mr.Narayana Murthy, an IIT alum and hordes of other alumni of the institute, condemned the incident. Does this mean that those who get killed have to be from IIT to get noticed? I am sure there were other such incidents, where were the IITians then?

Readers of this post, albeit a very few, will argue that at least something is being done now instead of an indifferent attitude towards such incidents. My question is why is there interest only in isolated cases? Why can't people question every single wrong doing to others? I guess I am just cynical.