Tuesday, July 11, 2006

Praying with anger

5.30 PM. Mumbai Church gate railway station. The unnamed man was standing facing the train. He had eyes which were hazel and looked like he was an insomniac. He had a 3 day beard and must be in his 30's though the pain in his eyes suggested that he had been living for ages. He had no name and no religion and hence no god. To him the only god who made sense was money and he knew that the rest of the whole world prayed to their respective "gods" for the same. He clutched the leather bag on his shoulder very tightly and the tension in his mind weighed much more than the contents in that leather bag.

He got into the train and slowly and steadily dropped the bag and with his feet moved it under the seat. He noticed the irony that the person seated just above the seat looked like his father...who was killed in the Godhra riots. He looked at the harmless faces of his co-passengers and wondered each ones train of thoughts. Near him was a middle aged man holding some sweets and a doll for his 3 year old kid. Seated next to him was an old man who seemed worried about his unemployed son. There was a lady on the far side who clutched her 4 year old daughter. Near her sat a nun who had her eyes closed and was praying something. If she was praying for heaven...little did she realize that this unnamed man was going to make her wish come true.



He didn’t have any remorse or guilt for his actions. A well read man that he was, he wondered at the stupidity of human race. For centuries humans have been fighting on the name of wealth, power, land, women and god. All we humans need is a reason to mutilate our fellow human being. He didn’t expect himself to be caught for at least sometime. He knew that the blasts would be followed by the usual round of "Condemning" the actions, some blame game on neighboring nations though this may be an insider’s action, an enquiry committee which will go on for years and whose outcome will be a 1000 pages of report which wont even put a fly to jail let alone the political bigwigs.

He walked down the next station and waited for the time to tick to 6.05 PM. The Agent had promised him Rs.100000 extra if the blast happened in the station and not in midway. A master of his profession that he was, he had set it for the same. He never bothered to ask the agent the name of his beneficiary as it meant nothing to him. With this money he should be able to book tickets to Dubai and settle down there. This country was no longer safe to live.

22 comments:

Anonymous said...

Why do you need to justify the actions of the bomber by giving the Godhra connection.

Terrorism existed before Godhra even and was invented by our good neighbours Pakistan. Sitting in foreign land, no point in trying to blunt the spite felt towards terrorists by giving a semblance of justification to his acts

Harish said...

I am not trying to justify his actions. The connection was just to mention that he was victmised too.
Also remember that my kith and kin are in Mumbai as well. Its reflection of an insecurity that I have for my dear and near ones far across. This post was an anger at the management and an ode to victims.

Iniyaal said...

Good one Harish.

Anonymous said...

Well put harish.

ambi said...

Hhhhmm, last line is heart moving. U shud have avoided. (atleast not to be bolded).

but thala,as usual narration is soo good..

btw, read your vegas, bungy jumping. gud, i enjoyed as if i'm doing that.. :)

Ramya said...

very well portrayed harish.its a very sad incident which will be let off by "condemning" statements like u said.

s0ulasylum said...

very well written... i hope ur family n friends are safe bk home.. tc!

srini said...

True. Not only here people are ready to do anything and everything for money and food and doing it in name of God and Religion will take a second row seat, I guess. I was stunned by the movie scene in the 'Batman Begins' when the hero's father was shot dead by a begger for few hundred bucks. Is life so cheap ? Even now murder for a day's meal are happening in many places.But how can u expect govt to gaurd 60Lakhs ppl travelling in the train daily in Mumbai.To put it simple if you want to live happy then the person next to you should also be happy otherwise he will trouble you.No way up.

SCRIBBLEZ TO WAKEUP said...

Just like your blog name, this man too put a MASK. I guess you managed to woof in some sacarsm here in a more light manner. Well, I should not even relate this to 7/11 as the compartment you mentioned had women in too right. So not drawing parallels here.:)

Gopalan Ramasubbu said...

It's a fragile world indeed!!

//He noticed the irony that the person seated just above the seat looked like his father...who was killed in the Godhra riots.//

you could have avoided the above lines.It gives diff meaning to the post eventhough u r not justifying the action.

Sangeeta Ananth said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Sangeeta Ananth said...

Seems like no place is safe these days...And a classic case of 'eye for an eye and we all go blind'.

Ekta said...

well..
u brought out the other side of the story..either ways its a cruel world and yes no longer safe to live...but is there any escape really?

Sat said...

you know what's the most pathetic aspect of all this?...we have learnt to endure such horrors...
Quite ironically, instead of mourning, the media is praising the great city of Mumbai to be abck at it's feet the very next day after the blast...every thing is normal! as if these disruptions are a part of normal life...40 odd poeple die in a blast in London, and the city has tight security measure a year from the event, poeple all over the country mourn for 2 minutes for the victims...but that won't happen in India...because we got 'over' it!; now is that a good thing?
Even the securtiy forces have started believing that all this is a daily way of life, may be that's why the leck of security despite so many mishaps...
And harish; the vey sad part of your post does seem to justify this very fact...some poeple die though they don't deserve to...it's all a vicious cycle..I'm sorry but i'll have to agree to soem extent with Mr. Anonymous here...

Sat said...

I really couldn't help this quote :)
'I don't know what scares me more...the madness that smashes poeple or their ability to endure it!'
From Shantaram

Harish said...

Believe me..I wanted to write a very positive blog about a bomber and a bomb found and being diffused (after all we indians are used to hypocrisy). But that doesnt avert whatever happened. We all are happy that Mumbai is back on its feet in a day. They are the ones alive. What about the dead and their families? A compensation of 1 lakh or 50000 doesnt pull back time or bring back near and dear ones. A friend of ours recently passed away in a tragic accident. His roomate who has been with him for 6 months is still recovering from the shock. Imagine the plight of ones who must bear the loss of people close to them for years?

As Sat said we have learnt to live with these irregularities. If not for Maniratnam's Bombay we might have forgotten the 1993 Bomb balsts. How may do we remember? Hawala, Harshad Mehta, Bofors, Bus Burning incident with 3 students alive,Reservation? Good thing is that we forget the past and bad thing is we always have our hands full with some shit.My mere mention of Godhra seems to have provoked so many. Revenge is a mob action and it doesnt mean analyzing situations and working accordingly. We all know that there will be no verdict on Godhra or whatsoever ruthless attack. I guess by the time they give something out even Modi and Co's Grand Children might have kicked the bucket. Sorry if i hurt the feelings of someone here.

KC! said...

last line - nethi adi!

Good one..

Celia said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Celia said...

A neat portrayal.. For a second, I did think of those people who had done the damage.. What would they have felt..

or .. whether they too died ..

Harish said...

@bindu
perhaps...but most probably thats as worse as 9/11

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