Mumbai Terrorist Attack 27/11

November 26, 2008. Terrorists storm Mumbai apparently via sea. They fire in local eat-outs, railway stations and hospitals. All done with impunity. Impunity - now that's a word to describe them. What consequence can they bear if they have arrived with the intention of receiving death with arms open heavenward?

There are 3 groups. One in Taj Mahal Hotel, one in Oberoi and one in Nariman (Chabad - not sure if this is the right name as many TV news channels over enthusiastically report this as Chabra House) House.

It is now 1807 hours of the 28th of November, 2008. I was watching nearly glued to the TV frantically clicking buttons on my remote like a love-lorn chronic sms'er. Been doing that since 0900 hours yesterday when my friend Anil KUMAR told me to watch the terror theatre unfolding frame by frame on TV.

My first thoughts were "Is this going to be one of those 3 hour terror where the bombs are set off and followed by a barrage of verbal bullets from every Indian (read politicians) who don't matter?" It is now approaching the 45th hour of war. It is war. Not a battle, not a skirmish, but full fledged war! Only we don't realise it yet. This is a pre-cursor.

They say the Oberoi hotel is now safe. We can soon expect to see newspersons storming the aftermath of battle there. Carnage, property destruction, burnt things, blood and flesh, disarray and flashes of pain and torture. Taj is still under siege. Nariman House as well. What strikes me as incongruous in the frames between Nariman House and the Taj is Nariman House, a residential property, looks like something war-torn in a still from world war II or one of those scenes in Western Asia where there is constant war. The Taj still looks majestic in its facade. Its innards are different, I know.

Just in - the Nariman House is sanitized.

All things considered, two strikes out of three in 48 hours and the third not too far from conclusion is fantastic response time. What with the National Security Guard - the NSG - operating solely out of the capital city and reaching out to the commercial capital. The army, navy and air force showed beautiful co-ordination and speed! Poetry in violent motion. Add to this the speed breakers of India's famous bureaucracy, red-tapism, talks and talks and more talks, soft-stand, negotiation and keeping 1.1 billion people happy.

All through this ... this ... war, I was thinking about the operations. Are the infra-red sensors to figure out persons or movement behind walls fictitious? Is there something that the soldier can fire into buildings like mikes and cameras to see behind the scenes? The terrorists use sat-phones. Can these be jammed? Last morning, I had thoughts of choppers dropping military onto roof tops before they did it this morning and all kinds of filmy imaginations of SWAT teams, crack commandos and elite units swooping on the terrorists and finishing them off. We are all used to instant everything. Instant noodles, instant porridge and now we want instant anti-terrorist eliminator. Even an hour and half action movie takes nothing less than 30 days to shoot.

Then there are the solutions spewed forth from various quarters. Funny how people think of extreme solutions only in their hour of need. People crying that our police using antiquated guns. The way I see it, police use guns for deterrents not state-defence. Have the jokers who said we use such ancients for anti-terrorism seen the hardware used by the defence? A .22 single loading bolt action rifle in the right hands can kill a person within 50 meters. I have been in NCC. So maybe that doesn't speak for much. I have seen the MPMG3 in action. It has a single fire, 3-burst and fully automatic. It has a recoil of a sex-hungry mistress. Not a mule. Its accuracy is to be seen to be believed. The commandos used MP5 among others. The sniper rifles were not made for long range. But then, I am sure the commandos knew the range would not be more than a kilometer to ask for that kind of firepower. They are not protecting a head of state while covering a radius of 5 kilometers. Now try to see the fire power I'm talking about. I think the show of force along with RPGs, grenade launchers, machine guns with 7 mm bullets and masked commandos in Nariman House was a warning to terrorists. Not sure if it was intentional, but a smart move to show that if India can call in the cavalry (rather euphemistic expression here) for few piddly terrorists, imagine the full force! This show of force of course could not have been captured with the commandos spread over 300 rooms in one location itself in the other strike areas.

Then the tangent of the long range bofor speakers. All fire and brimstone speeches by ad guys, movie guys and media guys about how India should deal with terrorist situations. Terrific spiel. It set my blood to high boiling point. I wanted to pull out a gun, drive stakes, make crosses, hang garlic garlands over my window panes, make silver bullets, chant mantras while tremulously holding a kamandalu. Same fellows will ask for AK47s and 56s to be provided to the Police. Same fellows will bay for their blood for police brutality. One thing we will never ever be short of. Opinions.

I never liked Indian democracy. The worst form for such a state. A state of 1100 million people (not all official citizens nor a real count either) with about 275 million (official count) below poverty line. Over 450 million illiterates. These elect leaders who are further illiterates or criminals or plain dumb. They merely have people power. Illiterate and Slum parasites. To hold a bachelor's doesn't mean you are educated or literate. It doesn't ensure you are knowledgeable or intelligent. Neither mature or empathetic. But it makes you aware for starters. That state of awareness is lacking in the average citizen. The smart ones are smart enough to avoid it. You think you can make a change? You cannot. There was this movie where Anil KAPOOR took Amrish PURI's chief ministership for a day. A south Indian movie remake I think (Bollywood rarely has good ideas for movies). But that is all it will remain. In reels. It can never happen in real life. NEVER. There are too many crabs in the box. Too many people to listen to. Thank the Lord the armed forces are strong unlike the people it defends and have sent out a warning today. Mess with India and ... !!!

But theirs will be a hard hard battle forever. They will continuously stem the symptoms effectively but never the cause. Because the cause is lack of education and I don't mean the literacy kind. Not the degrees and diplomas. But education of rights and duties. Of privileges and obligations. Of the power of few men to throw out an entire battalion of fools.

Sigh, there was, is and will be corruption forever in India. Today, I saw a report on raids on corrupt officials in Bangalore. Over INR170 million (over USD3.5 million) recovered. Most of the targeted officials were where? Not the capital city of Bangalore but elsewhere in Karnataka. Keep a sustained raid on anyone or property in Bangalore remotely connected to the Karnataka Government for the next 60 days. Give me the figures then. I tell you it will not be less than INR100 billion (over USD2 billion) in unaccounted for money.

So what now, you may ask me. This is it:

1. There will always be the pseudo-intelligentsia who will spew garbage and sewage about the great Indian dream, but never the great Indian reality. They will talk, talk and talk (like me).

2. There will be leaders who are not leaders in true sense of the term. But manipulators of public votes and opinion. False messiahs. Beggars for coffers of money to campaign. These people will never see the real test of time of leadership. If these hydras fall, there will be more hypocrites to take their place. They are cunning and evil. They know the intelligentsia do not do in deed, but only debate. An ad says "Wake up. Drink your tea. Vote." Nonsense. Don't try to think you are sending an important message. You are just pissing in a vat of ammonia.

3. Corruption. Where there is a government, there is corruption. This cancer cannot be stemmed. Cannot be alleviated. Cannot be cured.

4. There will always be enemies, within and without, who will take advantage of this situation. Enemies who will go to heaven directly if they kill their enemies. Enemies who will up their life for another without reason will go to heaven. Enemies who love their enemy-neighbours as much as they love themselves. Populace doing what they do best. Investing in prayers.

5. There will be religious and cultural differences. Such differences contributing to many things. Least of all, population. Some will be allowed to officially marry and breed more than others. Others will watch dispassionately and learn to adjust and love their neighbours. It will only be a few more years before India is numero uno in the numbers game. The uniform civil code (which I haven't read) is good. But instead we will always have stuff like reservations. Not the meek, but the minorities will inherit the earth.

6. There will always be terrorism. There will always be senseless death. Live with it. If you allow for such governance to exist, then get terminal disease. At least you know you will die for sure. There is no hope whatsoever.

Like my once(?)-friend, Udhay so eloquently quoted - probably from Cerebral Fix -
LIFE SUCKS ... AND THEN YOU DIE!!!