Attended the rally along with a zillion others. We were talking about it later with a bunch of friends, and i guess most of felt the immense surge of power and potency that a vast gathering of single-minded people generate. Dont think something has happened on this large a scale in most of our active memories, and it was great to just be a part of that.
It kind of sets you thinking about the huge lack of any standard of politician in the city. If ANY one of the corrupt, inept and generally dyslexic bunch had been there that night, they'd have been lynched.
Without respect for badge or label. Irrespective of Z+ security. You cant afford to mess with the entire city and not plan for a whiplash. The city showed itself larger and scarier than their worst nightmare come true.
I think everyone felt the surge. The feeling that something CAN actually change, and hence the desperate attempts to harness and protect the feeling, not let it dilute, keep it going. Its something that can swing a generation into action.
The Catalyst was provided, the action was there. Im sure none of the politicians slept easy that night. They probably kept awake the way we did when the terrorists were rampaging.
The MOST refreshing thing was Bombay's one-liner summaries of events. Precise and super. And cutting and sarcastic across the board.
Equally refreshing were the clarifications of the so called "Marathi Manoos". There were superb marathi signs clearly denouncing Mr.T's divisive brand of politics. This is a point of immense importance. It is SO important for us to NEVER associate the leaders with the public. Just becuase Mr.T is Marathi, he does NOT speak for the population at large. When statements like "Marathas feel that..." are made, they are addressed ONLY for the handful of nutcases employed by him to do his bidding. Its an easy point to miss in a generalisation. And we are the shorthand generation, generalisations save time. Its easy to categorise and label, rather than stop and understand each subtle difference. The rally made that clear in more ways than one. No generalisations, leave us ( the true Mumbaikars ) alone. Do NOT include us in your overall estimations, in your vote calculations.
You guys do NOT represent us. You've lost that privilege. Its time for new faces to step in, and we are going to be critical. No taken-for-granteds. You gotta prove your shit, or get the hell out of there. However, the other side of the fence has to be acknowledged too.
Its also really really important to understand that the politicians do NOT represent a nation. Just the way we cringe when we see Mr.Deshmukh snoozing in an ATS meeting, or our beloved local politicians debasing the memories of slain heroes in just 4 days by rushing madly for the empty chair, Pakistan must surely be having its share of cringing. I cannot believe that we are that diferent. It hasnt been that long, and we're just WAY too similar. We just need to step out of our country, to Boston, to Dubai, to Singapore, and the differences and politics literally evaporate. They are so much like us its not funny. Listen to the same music, see the same movies, abuse the same politicians. The blind warpath is NOT the solution.
It just means more pro-active citizen level initiatives need to happen. If the leaders of the nation cant stand up and unite us, we bloody well get out acts together. It happens everywhere. In Institutions, fed up with the lack of faculty, its just important to write to whomsover is required, and request them ( politely ) to get their butts there irrespective. The system does exist, but it can be bypassed with clear and open motives. Nobody can doubt us if we are secular. No-one can say its a bad thing. So misdirected anger is kinda a spanner in the works, not a solution.
The guys who got their banners up at the Gateway know this.
The War on Terror has been declared. Its nice that the initiative has been taken. Its also scary.
There was always SOME alert. Red Alert, Orange Alert, Yellowish-white Alert. The entire nation was on edge, was spooked out of their brains by wonderful proponents of unbiased news such as FOX news. It was mind numbingly scary to just WATCH tv. And the worse part is, its all agenda pushing.
In the USA, under homeland security, YOU can be arrested without warrant, your home searched without you being there, can be held indefinitely without trial, ALL under "suspicion" of being a terrorist. very scary. No privacy, no shit. Very VERY scary. That 'Khuda kay liye' film is scary, cos it seems that can actually happen! Its mostly as bad as watching Jurassic park and then realising your dad just got you a Velociraptor for your birthday.
