Enough is Enough...

Nov 26th: A dozen armed terrorists create mayhem in South Mumbai attacking prime hotspots such as CST station, Taj Mahal hotel, The Trident-Oberoi hotel, Leopold Cafe, Cama hospital and Metro Cinemas. Hostages are taken, people are killed and police tries to tackle the situation.

Nov 27th: The terrorists are still fighting. NSG Commandos, MARCOS, Police and army is called in to save the day. The terrorists even take hostages at a peaceful 'Nariman House', which housed jews; a rabbi and his wife who provided shelter and food to travelling orthodox jews are taken hostages and then eventually killed.

Nov 28th: The mayhem almost ends in all the locations except The Taj, where a lone terrorist is still determined to not give up...but so aren't we!

What do we make out of this? 3 days, 155+ dead and counting, more than 500 injured and battling for life... where is this nation headed to? There are millions of questions, doubts, anxiety and fear in every Indian's mind. It is not just a Mumbai tragedy anymore, its a national grievance and the Nation must stand up and take ownership of the situation..NOW!

I am sitting here in my safe house in Bangalore, yet scared, yet anxious of every step i take, yet startled by every sound that I hear outside... is this how we, of the 21st Century, are meant to live now? Watching the horror unfold on the news channels, on one hand, makes my blood boil and on the other hand, sends shivers down my spine. The iconic buildings in Mumbai that we all came to love, that we all admired, are fighting a battle to continue standing. When will be take stock of the situation and make amends? 

When will the politicians stop bickering like kindergarten children and accept their faults? When will the politicians and the so-called elected leaders of our country stand up for its citizens and tell us - "we will keep you safe. Dont worry." ? When will we hear a passionate leader (someone like Barack Obama) stand up for his people and 'feel it' when he says - "We Can do this and we will." ? How many more such incidents are required in this country, for its leaders to take notice, and step out of their air-conditioned houses and well-manicured lawns to do something about it? After all, we chose them... when will they fulfill their responsibilities towards the country and its citizens?

We must take pledge to stand up for 'us', for our county..and if not for anything else, then atleast for all those brave heroes who, sans-politics have only gone and done their duty of saving lives! The politicians need to know that this is not a political battle, its a human battle for survival. They cannot continue taking each incident as an example and still be extremely unprepared about it. It took us more than 50 hours to bring down 12 terrorists, are we ever well-prepared? The government knew about infiltration from the sea, they knew about the hotels being targetted and they knew about an attack being planned 3 months ago (Source: NDTV) and yet, they pretended to be clueless. 

I, for one, do not want to live a life of fear. If I have made Manmohan Singh my PM, I expect him to be a little more passionate about his country and its men, rather than looking like someone dragged him out of his bed and gave him a speech he has to be forced to say! If I have elected Shivraj Patil as the home Minister, i expect him not to wear his freshly-ironed safari suit and equate us to 9/11 and talk a whole lot of bull$%^&! I certainly dont want a leader like Narendra Modi, come to the scene of terror and start accusing the government of failing its task? Well, Sir, what were you doing when the terrorists entered from the waters of your state? I want a leader who can stand up for us, cry with us, give us hope, tell us that things are going to change and share with us his plans to change them!

Enough is Enough... We need to bring in a change.. NOW. We need to behave like adults and stop the bickering and the politics - stand up - for our country  is in danger! Enough is Enough...We need to stop looking like fools. We cannot have the elite and respected NSG commandos dance to the tunes of 1 terrorist in 1 room of a hotel for hours. We need to be stronger...louder...more aggressive...and we need to choose our leaders who are not 'puppets' but real men...real leaders...who, given the chance, can wear a life jacket and carry a rifle and jump to the scene of terror, if required! Enough is enough....I want to feel safe on my own lands! I certainly dont want a Bal Thackarey making headlines with his "..Mumbai is for Maharashtrians.." crap!...Enough is Enough...

Enough is enough...will the real country leader, please stand up?