Terror truth...

Too much has been said and written about the Mumbai terror attack but I just failed to grasp what was so different about 'terror' this time? The only answer I could find was that this time the rich and the famous suffered...Death is a tragic reality for everybody but the current incident just proved that though all deaths are tragic, some are more tragic!

The media was so busy covering Taj, trident and the Nariman house events that they almost forgot that there were ‘terror attacks’ and people died at CST or some government run hospital, but that really doesn't sound like a big news, does it?? What was even more disgusting was the way the entire terror attack was used by the media as mega marketing even, talking about exclusive coverage!! Now how gratifying can one feel to know that some XYZ channel is ‘exclusively’ covering a national tragedy for him/her!

The TV was totally hopeless, too much of information very little analysis and absolute lack of substance... Not that the print media was any better but they were at least better in terms of drawing conclusions or asking the sensible questions….The TV just wanted to portray the politicians as the culprits!
Politicians being corrupt was fine till blasts happened at some mediocre old stations and bazaars frequented, by the poor whose death did n't really come across as ‘9/11’ in India! India was continuing to shine, investigations were taking there usual time, even the constitution seemed all right and everything was going quite smoothly. But guess what, the terrorists too realized that they were not being heard at all...

So they did what any intelligent strategist would do, change the target! That's how I guess they must have decided to attack 5-star hotels and foreign nationals! To their credit, they at least figured out what will ensure adequate attention... In fact they too must have got more than what they expected, after all when before did the page3 crowd (read Simi Garewal, Rahul Bose, Sharmila Tagore anyone and everyone from show business) talk about national security and terrorism! These people are trying to link tax paying with security! Does it mean if I pay my taxes, the government should have a preference in protecting me against someone who pays less tax?? Never mind the fact that taxes are evaded mostly by the rich and not the poor, but the argument itself is so disgusting….

The solutions offered are preposterous to say the least...It is simply made out to be the fault of some or all corrupt politicians! But what makes a corrupt politician so important? Who creates a corrupt politician, who benefits out of a corrupt system; it’s in whose interest to have inefficient and corrupt government bodies??
No body is asking these questions…No body is talking about general governance (or lack of it) issues, no body is talking about holding all political parties responsible for not being able to function in national interest even at crisis times, the list can go on and on….

To me, much of this outcry, about corrupt and inefficient politicians is just an over hyped reaction well used by the media to carry on the terror attack mania...These people are not saying anything new or different or even specific for that matter...Things will easily cool down once this anger dies down. The media will figure out some other 'happening' event to keep people (who care to watch) busy with their ‘exclusive’ coverage...

The major impact of this terror attack was, that for the first time, the urban rich and influential are scared of ‘their’ security and the middle class which aspires to be a part of this higher class shares their anxiety while trying to portray corrupt politician as the root cause of this whole issue...But the truth is that it is in the best interest of these same rich and influential people and established corporations to have corrupt and inefficient politicians in government offices! So at least they (corrupt politicians) are not going to go anywhere anytime soon...For the poor, well life was never safe or secure even in absence of terror attacks so the struggle for existence continues...

The truth is that the terrorist have figured out whose death will matter and the urban rich have just proved their strategy to be right!