It just pains when it happened, watching all those gory scenes on CNN, especially when I was on vacation. The feeling of helplessness, sitting in a far off country away from dear and near ones watching your beloved city being rampaged. The anger swells up, it reminds me of another day March of 1993, when i was on the streets of Bombay when the bomb blasts were happening.
One thing I was confident was that the city will bounce back. The amount of resilience that the citizens of the city have is tremendous and like the last time round, we proved ourselves again, but getting back on our feet and getting back to life with the same fervour.
The thing that shocked me was the media, both in the US and back in India. The US media was as usual narrow in focussed, talking as if this event only affected their world and US citizens as if this attack was planned at them. Forgetting to mention that there are 8 other sites attacked and the extent of locals killed, for them Taj and Oberoi were the only two places of interest. And once the "Media Event" ended, there is a silence, I am still to come to terms with the working of the new gen of Fourth Estate, which is very modular in nature. Plug into the event and plug out as if it did not occur. Analysis is all over the place, there is no depth no thinking only connecting the dots on the surface to come with quick answers.
As far as Indian Media, it is copying the west very fast. the detailed reporting of every event. The need to talk to people the need to create the frenzy was there. This reminded of the Babri Masjid demolition and the further riots in Mumbai. I am very sure, lots of life could have been saved, if the media were a little more responsible. I am sure i will be condemned for the above line, saying i am against Freedom of Speech. But this I would like to say, as one of our professors used to say "" Freedom comes with Responsibility, Freedom does not have any meaning without the responsibility for the our own actions.""
