I have no words to describe the anger and frustration I feel about the Ahmedabad blasts. As of this morning 46 people have been killed! What on earth is the logic behind this mindlessness?
Only sane thing I did was to stay away from the damned news channels. I cannot be angry at more than one thing at a time!
Showing posts with label gory. Show all posts
Showing posts with label gory. Show all posts
Monday, July 28, 2008
Friday, July 25, 2008
The blasts and the blasted TV
13 phone calls, 32 sms and 5 emails later, I know that all the people I was worried about are safe and sound. But the fact that V is still not home (stuck in traffic jam) and I can't reach his mobile at all is freaking me out.
My heart goes out to those caught in it all...9 blasts in a couple of hours. It killed 3 and injured about 15. They can call it low intensity but it is scary, nevertheless.
And I am mad at television channels because they don't seem to get the facts right. All the English channels didn't even get the names of the places right till 3 hours after...Audugidi & Sarjipura for Audugodi & Sarjapura. Since most people in Bangalore aren't localites, I have been getting questions about these locations!
The Kannada channel TV9's anchor was worth being lynched with his inane questions. Sample this, he's questioning some eyewitness on phone and he asks "Bangaloreans are not used to such things so how was it to hear the blast?" What the????
Then he also says that the bomb doesn't look like it was made by professionals (HUH???). And goes on to spew his theories...if they were professionals he says, they wouldn't put the bomb near the naala (this is near audugodi) where no one is bound to get injured. I wonder if he worked with the bomb squad before shifting to this glamorous profession of news reading!
Then they went off to Mallya hospital to question one of the guys who got injured. The guy's obviously shaken, he hasn't been bandaged fully yet, he's pressing cotton on to his right arm and there are 3 mikes thrust in his face!
All channels without exception were quite happy to speculate as to who put the bombs there. And all the usual suspects were named. Of course by evening they said this was not an international action but someone local was involved.
I agree there is a need to get the information, but why jump the gun when you have no clear information? And really please can you not think before you speak / ask questions? There are people watching you on live TV and hoping you know your jobs for godsake!
And what's wrong with the aam junta? Minutes after the blast, one would think that they would stay put at homes / offices where it is relatively safer. But there were 100s of people out to see what happened. Curiousity has brought them out, one reporter said. I don't get it.
Then of course the clincher, someone from the centre said, the last 2 blasts (now Bangalore and Jaipur 2 months ago) have happened in BJP led states! Apparently indicating the ineptitude of the party. Nice time to take potshots and the opposition.
I AM SO MAD!
Correction: Only 1 was killed and 8 injured in yesterday's blasts!
My heart goes out to those caught in it all...9 blasts in a couple of hours. It killed 3 and injured about 15. They can call it low intensity but it is scary, nevertheless.
And I am mad at television channels because they don't seem to get the facts right. All the English channels didn't even get the names of the places right till 3 hours after...Audugidi & Sarjipura for Audugodi & Sarjapura. Since most people in Bangalore aren't localites, I have been getting questions about these locations!
The Kannada channel TV9's anchor was worth being lynched with his inane questions. Sample this, he's questioning some eyewitness on phone and he asks "Bangaloreans are not used to such things so how was it to hear the blast?" What the????
Then he also says that the bomb doesn't look like it was made by professionals (HUH???). And goes on to spew his theories...if they were professionals he says, they wouldn't put the bomb near the naala (this is near audugodi) where no one is bound to get injured. I wonder if he worked with the bomb squad before shifting to this glamorous profession of news reading!
Then they went off to Mallya hospital to question one of the guys who got injured. The guy's obviously shaken, he hasn't been bandaged fully yet, he's pressing cotton on to his right arm and there are 3 mikes thrust in his face!
All channels without exception were quite happy to speculate as to who put the bombs there. And all the usual suspects were named. Of course by evening they said this was not an international action but someone local was involved.
I agree there is a need to get the information, but why jump the gun when you have no clear information? And really please can you not think before you speak / ask questions? There are people watching you on live TV and hoping you know your jobs for godsake!
And what's wrong with the aam junta? Minutes after the blast, one would think that they would stay put at homes / offices where it is relatively safer. But there were 100s of people out to see what happened. Curiousity has brought them out, one reporter said. I don't get it.
Then of course the clincher, someone from the centre said, the last 2 blasts (now Bangalore and Jaipur 2 months ago) have happened in BJP led states! Apparently indicating the ineptitude of the party. Nice time to take potshots and the opposition.
I AM SO MAD!
Correction: Only 1 was killed and 8 injured in yesterday's blasts!
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Globalisation of a different kind
It always scares me to hear about all the bomb blasts that happen all over the world. I believe it is the single most senseless thing that mankind has invented. But you never really understand how terrifying it is unless it touches you. When I was younger I knew very few people and whoever I knew were all either in Bangalore or Belthangady. Nothing much happened around then. News of one odd accident or an unexpected death was all that came along once in a while to disturb us. Then we moved on.
Now it is different I have made a lot friends and work with a lot of people in different parts of the country, world even. I always felt it was a good thing. But then when terrible things happen in those far away places and you worry about your friends or colleagues it isn't so good.
First time I realised this was when I met a young Kashmiri student years ago who talked about militancy that almost ripped his family and identity apart. I met him just once, I don't even remember his face or name but everytime I hear some news from Kashmir, I wonder about him.
The bomb blasts in Delhi, Mumbai and Assam always worries me. I know a few people there. I am not touch with all of them but it scares me nevertheless. The mindless shooting spree in some part of America, forest fires that go out of control, the cyclones that threaten an entire coastline all these are not just news one hears on TV anymore. It is much more personal.
Srilanka was another country that just fascinated me after I read Ramayana. Then I met two girls from that country who cried when they watched "Kannathil Muthamittal" and told the everyday horrors which shook me up so much I didn't sleep for days. Now I worry about that country too. These days a friend travels to Colombo often on work and I send out silent prayers.
Sometimes I feel I cannot take this anymore. This mindless blood spilling that's happening everywhere it is affecting me. And then I think if this is how I feel when I am miles away from there, what goes on in the minds of people who see this everyday and watch helplessly as violence disrupts their lives?
Now it is different I have made a lot friends and work with a lot of people in different parts of the country, world even. I always felt it was a good thing. But then when terrible things happen in those far away places and you worry about your friends or colleagues it isn't so good.
First time I realised this was when I met a young Kashmiri student years ago who talked about militancy that almost ripped his family and identity apart. I met him just once, I don't even remember his face or name but everytime I hear some news from Kashmir, I wonder about him.
The bomb blasts in Delhi, Mumbai and Assam always worries me. I know a few people there. I am not touch with all of them but it scares me nevertheless. The mindless shooting spree in some part of America, forest fires that go out of control, the cyclones that threaten an entire coastline all these are not just news one hears on TV anymore. It is much more personal.
Srilanka was another country that just fascinated me after I read Ramayana. Then I met two girls from that country who cried when they watched "Kannathil Muthamittal" and told the everyday horrors which shook me up so much I didn't sleep for days. Now I worry about that country too. These days a friend travels to Colombo often on work and I send out silent prayers.
Sometimes I feel I cannot take this anymore. This mindless blood spilling that's happening everywhere it is affecting me. And then I think if this is how I feel when I am miles away from there, what goes on in the minds of people who see this everyday and watch helplessly as violence disrupts their lives?
Wednesday, July 12, 2006
Bloody hell!
They were just going home finishing their work. Looking forward to a fresh bath, warm food and a quiet evening with the family. Many of them even glad for the fact that today is over, tomorrow is another day may be better. All they got is a bloody carnage. Many of them didn't live to tell the tale. Those who did, their trust shattered forever.
It is all so pointless. True they will pick themselves up today and move forward, in their famous mumbaikar stride. How far though? Till the next blast?
It is that simple and easy to kill hundreds at one go eh? All in a day's work? The people who planted those bombs did they go back home tell their family "My day was good today; I finished what I was supposed to do"?
In all the carnage I saw on TV, one thought occurred to me. People in that far away Kashmir, witness blood bath like this everyday may be not on this scale, but blood bath nevertheless. We don't see the kind of outrage that Mumbai blasts caused yesterday. Is it because we have become used to the news of violence from there? Will we reach a stage where we will react to this kind of news with a “tut tut” and move on, even if it is in our neighbourhood?
Just like the fact that in the neighbourhood women are being harassed, houses burgled, young men beaten up and killed for mere mobile phones, does not move anything in our hearts, anymore. One day the violence of the scale like that in Mumbai will also mean nothing.
Blood will run cold soon and not because we are dead.
It is all so pointless. True they will pick themselves up today and move forward, in their famous mumbaikar stride. How far though? Till the next blast?
It is that simple and easy to kill hundreds at one go eh? All in a day's work? The people who planted those bombs did they go back home tell their family "My day was good today; I finished what I was supposed to do"?
In all the carnage I saw on TV, one thought occurred to me. People in that far away Kashmir, witness blood bath like this everyday may be not on this scale, but blood bath nevertheless. We don't see the kind of outrage that Mumbai blasts caused yesterday. Is it because we have become used to the news of violence from there? Will we reach a stage where we will react to this kind of news with a “tut tut” and move on, even if it is in our neighbourhood?
Just like the fact that in the neighbourhood women are being harassed, houses burgled, young men beaten up and killed for mere mobile phones, does not move anything in our hearts, anymore. One day the violence of the scale like that in Mumbai will also mean nothing.
Blood will run cold soon and not because we are dead.
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