Voice India

Frankly, I don't even know how to or where to begin. I feel so inadequate, so short of words. No word in the vocabulary known to me can bring out the grief, anger, shame and numbness I feel...and yet, somehow, we still continue to carry on with our lives.   India is up in flames...of anger, shame, self-disgust. It has taken decades for this protest to come up. This is a movement arising out of despair, pain and loss. For once, we are not lamenting our personal loss. Rather, the country's loss is, for once, our personal loss. Why did it have to come this late? The carnage was worse in the Delhi riots, the Punjab militancy, the Kashmir haemorrhage that never stops, Assam, Jaipur, Ahmendabad, the Parliament...the list is endless.   I cannot yet come to terms with this tremor that has shaken us all...decades of complacency and we all are protesting today. The good part is having everyone wake up at the same time. There is strength in numbers and this is what we need to hold on to. No person, even remotely aware of this carnage, remains unaffected. Numb. It is a numbness that has a pressurised indignance waiting to be released. One more drop on the filled pot. This is what Mumbai was. The cup runneth over, blood and charred remains vomited out from the innards of a society that has given its leaders way too many chances.   Are we educated? What kind of education has enabled these indifferent, insensitive politicians to rule us thus? We are illiterates! Worse, because we have the ability to read and understand and yet have permitted this whirlpool of corruption and sponsored terror to overrule our sensibilities.   There are arguements and discussions about this all ovet the globe. From where I see it, let me point the first finger at me. I am to be blamed...   ...for waiting for someone else to stand up and lead when I can very well know how to - we are all powerful and beyond measure capable of doing tasks we have never done before...dont we do that in our everyday life?   ...for looking at things and people with indifference because it did not matter to me or did not affect my personal life.   ...for not bothering to pause or stop and wonder why someone was being cruel to another right in front of me and I did not protest - never mind my ability or inability to fight back...what stops me from pointing out a bully and reporting it? Fear that my own life and well being of my own family will be jeopardised? How utterly selfish!   ...for not questioning why a law or rule applies differently to another when I know it is not that way - can I get any more self-centred?   ...for being given ample training and guidance in leadership, behavioural sciences, discipline and adhering to rules and regulations and yet turning a blind eye to someone who needed to be assisted and supported in his/her cause.   ...for educating myself to graduate in political science (out of choice) and not optimally utilising that education and bring about a change in my own area for a start!   ...for not voting right - and sometimes not voting at all.   ...for ignoring breakdowns in the system till it affects my own life up close and personal.   ...for not reporting crime when I see it happen   ...   It is endless. Now that my finger has pointed to me, what am I doing next?   Am I just going to think and rave and rant? Am I to become?   An outraged nation is beginning a movement...there are so many groups formed which is trying to gather citizens to not take it lying down from now on. I support that completely.   Can I do more?   Can you?   Do you?   - Sandy