A Year of Sepuchral Silence...

"Three Kings, mere 3 raje!!" , "One more from me le ek aur raja"...next was Rahul's chance..." Challenge!!".His dad was bluffing. Rahul had won the hand. Since he had the 4th king!!
Rahul Yadav a ten year old boy was waiting with his mom and dad at the railway station. The Train was still to come, and so to pass time they played a card game very famous with small boys, Challenge! They were moving away to their native place in Patna. They were going away from the land where they were hated, beaten up, their bread snatched away from them by some lingua-fanatics. They had no option but to go back to the land where they starved without jobs, no land, nothing. With that dying feeling, Rahul's dad was playing cards with his only son at the station.
Before he could play the next hand, he heard some loud bangs some where near. Diwali left overs maybe...but that wasn't to be so. That feeling was over the moment they saw people running away everywhere. They tried to comprehend, but by then there were two men with backpacks, one of them wearing a versace tshirt, and holding an AK-47 and walking towards them. They felt as if the MNS had decided to kill people like them. Rahul's mom took him in her arms, but soon he heard her scream. Her blood was on his face. A bullet had pierced her chest. Both fell down, his dad too was down in blood, Rahul was silent. The date was 26/11/2008.

Numerous such Rahuls young and old were all over Mumbai. Numerous of them could never see the next day. So many of them could never walk again. Rahul could never speak again. The Guns' had silenced his voice. He was not a victim of bullets, but a victim of his mother's blood on his face, a victim of seeing his dad die, he was a victim of trauma. So many Rahuls never knew the thing called trauma. The place he last knew was CST. The date they knew was 26/11/2008.

All over Mumbai, people died to the bullets sprayed. And then came the saviors wearing black uniforms. All anger in their eyes, Vengeance in their hearts, Carbines in their hands, in came the security guards. The National Security Guards. The came they saw...but their conquer took time. A lot of time. A lot of lives, a lost heritage, a lost pride, a lost morale, and many lost families. The siege was over. I still remember the loud cheer that people gave for the NSG when they returned after the Nariman Point operation.

One year has passed since then. Many rules changed, many blank spaces. One year when the man with the versace tshirt became the face of terror. The man whose name the world knows. Ajmal Kasab. Ajmal Qasav. Ajmal Kasav. Ajmal Qasab. One year has passed since then, more than 200 died. But this man still lives, complains about the food, laughs at lawyers, laughs at witnesses. For all others, the sepulchral silence still continues. Rahul never spoke again, he lives in an orphanage in Mumbai. The NSG has improved. People have changed. The Taj is open again. But when the Home minister says such attacks will be avoided, such attackers will be put to justice, all that i can say is, "CHALLENGE!".

Hatred for Hatred

In school, i remember, a question was asked,"
Ma'm, what is the difference between HATE and DISLIKE.??". The Answer i still remember as Kavita Ma'm said,"To dislike is temporary, but hate is unchangeable. It's much harder to hate than just dislike. So, Vishnu, never hate, dislike if you wish"
Those words still move around inside me. But things have changed since then. Today, it seems to be easier to hate than just dislike. Much much easier. Within minutes one hates the other more than one's life. " I Hate you " is heard more often than anything. Look around and you'll find something to hate. Has the world changed this much in so less time.? How do i know!!
But i do know one thing for sure...The world wont have changed if there had been no such thing as hatred. Imagine a world were there were no issues. India would never have been parted. There would've been no enemy, no anger, no fights, no cases, no worries! America would've stayed as it was, the World Trade center still working. The stock market at 50000. No Taliban, No Al-queda. No LTTE, No ULFA, No Maoists. No bandhs no bans no lathicharge. No violence. Somalian waters would become safe. Lebanon war chiefs wouldn't exist. Iraq would be green again. Afghanistan would again become a cultural haven. The Earth would become heaven.
But such a utopia doesn't even exist in our dreams. The word hatred has changed us all. We watch Raj Thackeray's men beat up an elected representative and what do we do.??? Simple!! Just change the channel!! We watch beheading of people...change the channel. We watch lathicharge on students...change the channel. We watch Katrina Kaif...we wont change the channel. We watch Sa Re Ga Ma...we wont change the channel. In the End, it doesn't even matter. May be we hate hatred.

"Hate Hatred before Hatred starts to Hate you!" The paradox remains. We love to hate, we hate to love and there's no such thing as dislike!