The heat generated by Mumbai attack seems to be settling down. Not that we are forgetting it so soon. No, we will not. It was indeed India’s 9/11 for a simple reason that the nation was hit where it hurts the most. This time the highest echelon of Indian society took the hit. No place remained beyond reach, none ever was. But the myth has now been decisively trashed.
Therefore, India is now trying to build a safe sanctuary for its elite and commoners alike because the attack has washed the distinction away. We now know better than ever that in the eyes of the terrorists, one man is as good as the other, one body as good as the other and the more the bodies, the better. Finally, there is someone who sees humanity through a single prism. It’s bad news on the face of it because the entire humanity seems to be under attack. But the flipside of the same is not all that bad. In their attempt to have a go at all, they just might have united ‘all’ against them.
The problem with ‘all’ is that they tend to unite under threat, but as the threat subsides, the unity withers nearly as quickly, whereas the huddle on the other side remains intact. In this clash, the side that holds up longer against the other will finally win the war. Clearly then, the war is going to be a long drawn one, and the victorious will take all.
First published on my WordPress Blog on December 29, 2008
