Entries For: August 2008
2008-08-07
Terrorism and Human Spirit
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The recent terrorist attacks in Bangalore, ironically, made me like this city more than ever.
A couple of weeks ago, Bangalore was the target of a terrorist attack. A series of blasts rocked the city in the afternoon that day, killing one person and injuring several others. I was in my office that day, which is located within 500 meter radius from two of the blast sites, but I didn’t hear any blast sounds – they were of low intensity. The blasts that struck Ahmedabad a day after that were much stronger, killing more than 50 people and injuring hundreds.
On the day when the blasts struck Bangalore, there was panic and fear across the city. Several schools, offices, shopping malls and movie theatres closed down. However, by evening, when I drove back home from work, the traffic on the streets was almost normal. Business establishments were busy functioning normally the very next day – with the very usual traffic jams seen all over. For the first time ever, I wasn’t miffed by these traffic jams. Oddly enough, I felt happy that there were traffic jams in Bangalore that day. They signalled the spirit of a city that I call home for more than four years, to stand up against an act of terror. And I now admire this city more than ever.
Sure, the Bangalore attacks weren’t as devastating as 9/11 or the ones in Ahmedabad or the ones that struck Jaipur a couple of months ago. So, it’s probably true that Bangalore went back to being normal earlier than the other cities. However, in almost every city in the world struck by terrorist attacks, be it Mumbai, Ahmedabad or New York, normalcy has been restored sooner than expected. This does not mean that those who survived don’t care for those who died. Prayer sessions and candle light vigils that took place in Bangalore, Ahmedabad and the rest of India after the recent attacks show that there is concern for the victims. Restoring normalcy, for me, is standing up against terrorism. This, for me, speaks for the human spirit, which I hope will make this a terrorism-free world one day.
