Where are the argumentative Indians who took a pride place in Amartya Sen’s non-fiction, who resided in that book under the pillow of Manmohan Singh’s bed as a night-time reading! Have we lost the sanity, the objective, the determination to see ourselves as free human beings? Or is it that we have become so gullible that it doesn’t really matter who plays with our emotions and sentiments next!
I REFUSE to be a part of this society where politicians are exacerbating our predicaments by dividing us from every possible way –the most obvious religious way which could not get more ugly than their voting strategies, the social ways and of course the emotional ways!!
We BLED and BLED and BLED, not once but perpetually as we saw the brutality at its peak when people were indiscriminately shot dead during the deadliest of attacks in Mumbai. We as a nation, as hindustanies, as Indians unlike our faceless, leaderless politicians, BLED when we saw our State Home Minister – R.R. Patil saying, “ Bade, bade cities mei yeh hota rehta hai”, - he slaughtered our soul, wounded our sentiments in a much worse way than a terrorist has ever done to us. I wanted to be a politician once upon a time, but under my naivety and innocence, I couldn’t understand that before anything you need to possess an absolute insensitive soul to be a part of that fraternity. Our politicians today have endowed upon us the utmost disgrace not only at a national but also at an international level. People, world-over, are laughing at us today, at our stupid disgusting and pretentious efforts of trying to appear united!! The terrorists today our mocking at our failure of not being able to run the system despite of several lessons they have given us in the past to learn from. We have become a game, too easy to win by the perpetrators, too easy to play that even 18 years' terrorists can make us impotent, too easy for them to come and DESTROY us so that they can create yet another game on the face of non-existent INDIA.
Today, I am infuriated and agitated with the plight of the countless people suffering. My heart goes out for that two year old israeily kid who hasn’t even grown up enough to comprehend what it means to have lost your parents, what does it mean to be an orphan, what is called terrorism and what is it that causes it. What will go through the psyche of the child when he will grow up to ask all these questions? Or, WE WILL give him that foundation, that learning ground where probably he will have the answers of the questions himself, we will give him that map of insecure India, insecure city, insecure society, where he will grow up – if fortunate enough – and BLAME US for snatching the basic love from his life. YES, we have snatched his basic needs, we have deprived him of the basic love of his parents, we have rendered him homeless, we have KILLED his parents. NOT YOU, NOT ME BUT US. We have killed his happy life, before he could understand; we have assassinated his wishes, desires and burnt them alive in front of our eyes.
As I think and write about that little child, the tears trickle down my cheeks. I truly believe that we have in us to make this a better place. Forget the politicians who have their own game plans, isolated from the growth and peace of the country, the responsibilities now lie on us. Shivraj Patil’s resignation is as futile as the elections around the corner!! You hear us – we are bleeding, we are infuriated – we need SECURITY, fresh air to breathe in, we need our homes back, we need our parents, sisters, friends back....We DONOT NEED ENUCHS LIKE YOU!! We need our people.

Priyanka Bedi