It was a series of “low in-intensity but high in alarm” bomb blasts that woke up the otherwise sleepy and silent Bangalore. Though the more important question haunts loud and clear: "Have we really woken up?"
Life is back to normal, yes at the look of it, but not in our minds. We still are waiting for the clock to tick when Bangalore too becomes the “karm-bhoomi” of the so called terrorist groups.
“What is the government and the police doing?” almost everyone has this question on their lips (or atleast in their minds) – specially the middle class (with the wide exposure to the innumerable satellite TV news channels over the net and in our idiot boxes– we are extremely educated now).
The constant crib is “We don’t see the police on the roads or even at the major intersections”!! But sometimes we conveniently forget the other responsibilities the police has with the rising crime rate in the city. Do we expect them to be everywhere, just because there were a few “minor” blasts in this Indian city? Neither can Bangalore generate a swarm of policemen overnight nor can the government suddenly become aggressive and proactive from its so reactive and passive mode. It has just been elected and needs time (or years?) to settle down before it can break into action. We can’t expect Bangalore’s face and its governance to be like some scene out of a Hollywood movie where everything happens even before it is thought of and America is saved!
It’s easy to pass judgment about something we can’t control or for which we don’t have to take the onus! But what are WE doing? – sitting in our high-rises or in the ‘latest fad - villa style houses’ –watching television coverage or just slogging it out in our offices making money (with a constant watch on the latest news and the falling stocks). Isn’t it our responsibility to make our home safer – that’s if we consider Bangalore as our home. Over the past few years – I have seen this as a major issue here – Bangalore has an identity crisis – is it made of the millions of people who have come from every nook and corner of the world and made it as their residence or the is it made up of the original Bangaloreans who have resided here since ages. Each group has consistently blamed the other for spoiling this city. Isn’t it time to stop passing the buck at the expense of precious human life!
Let’s ask this ‘much avoided’ question to ourselves – do we own the responsibility? Do we care about our neighborhood? Do we know who all are around us? Is there a tenant on our floor who might be worth our suspicion? Infact, do we even know if all the flats on our floor or in our block or neighborhood are occupied? Or do we just open the backdoor of our houses to put the garbage on the empty plot behind!! Didn’t the news say that most of the bombs were planted in garbage heaps – are we doing anything to clear those around us or just create awareness or if we can’t even do this then at-least to lodge a complaint?
Do we talk to our cleaners or the numerous stream of servants we employ, about their backgrounds and register their identity with the police or are we just satisfied in boasting about their services to our friends and relatives?
Isn’t it simple and yet effective in keeping ourselves engaged with our surroundings – or do we still want to limit our social correspondence to the pub or coffee shop visits. Have we become too callous to just stop while walking on the road and look around to see if we are safe and sound. Ofcourse, we might not be able to avert the worst by this – but won’t we create some deterrent for the anti-socials- just by making them think twice before they perch themselves somewhere near us.
Shouldn’t we just wake up from this dream of having a well-connected and highly-comfortable Bangalore – move out of our comfort zones and connect well with each other – I guess this will give us more power than just forwarding or smsing news-clippings after the damage has been done!
