The Carnage in Mumbai

"If you let them into even the edge of your frontyard, they will slowly encroach, inch by painful inch, into your very home."

Those were the words of a wise old Indian Army veteran who was enjoying a sumptuous lunch next to me at the wedding of one my vast army of relatives. I was a young chap back then, ready to exit my teens and ready to fake adulthood. The response was prompted by my question "Kashmir seems so far away. Why is the Indian Government spending so much money to keep fighting a seemingly endless war?"

As a young kid visiting my uncle in Mumbai, then Bombay, I wondered who could afford the luxuries of such a hotel. I remember the grand looking darwan's who welcomed the guests from overseas as I watched from about a hundred meters away. Then many years later I stayed for a night at the Taj with a colleague who is also a dear friend. We had dinner at The Zodiac Grill. Very expensive. Very very expensive. And I remember thinking that while the food was good, it must be the ambience people are paying for. Bhel at Juhu Beach and Chinese food on Marine drive packed a stronger punch. Or "kick" as we spicy-food-afficionados like to say.

All those memories came flooding back as I watched the flames that licked the inside of the roof of the Grand Taj Palace hotel. With it came outrage. How dare they. And with the outrage came the sinking thought that we are still stuck with the same political establishment. An establishment that will pay lip service to the sacrifice of the noble men who died so others may live. That will talk about a new federal agency, a new NSG-style unit for Maharashtra, and other such things. But until the men and women who vote for those politicians hold them accountable in a meaningful way nothing will change. Mumbai will continue to remain hostage to it's vulnerable underbelly. The dark world infested with shadowy characters who sell death to their citizens. The traitors that turn upon the same society that feeds them.

Feeling a bit disoriented, for now I will end with a few discursive thoughts:

1. Taking the Pakistani Government at face value, will the Indian Government ask them to hand over Dawood Ibrahim. Many knowledgeable reporters claim he is in Karachi. Get him so that the world knows that the Indian Government will hunt down those who unleash violence upon India, even it takes them a decade or two.

2. Will Manmohan Singh acknowledge his mistake in putting India and Pakistan on equal footing as "victims of the terrorists?" Lest someone mistake this for pro-BJP propaganda, let me state for the record, L K Advani is guilty of similar political opportunism in attempting to paint himself as a reborn secularist.

3. Will there ever be a political party in India that is able to synthesize a religion-blind outlook with a national security and national development agenda? None of the existing parties come close. The worst of the lot are the commies for theirs is a toxic agenda of left-wing economics, contempt for Indian tradition, and pro-China (actually, servile to China) policies.