I am unhappy today... my world has been shattered by the very discussions that are meant to calm my nerves and give me a sense of being safe.
I am sitting in front of the television and wondering what I should do next... 6 days back... at this hour I was driving back home from a movie... happy and smiling... the roads may have had less traffic... but I felt safe... today... I am afraid... that there is a sniper around the corner wielding an AK 47 at me... telling me... loud and clear... that no one is looking out for me.
A 21 year old is motivated enough to walk through the city and shoot at sight. He talks of a PLOT to mar the very essence of the city... 9 others have been killed, motivated by their cause... and here I am still too frightened to take a step and yet so angry... knowing that the time for action is NOW and yet wondering if I will be able to take a decision beyond my own safety to extend a hand to change the path we're headed on.
The comments on blogs have so much hate filled in them... a community has come under the scanner and will bear the brunt of the activities of a few... who in the name of JIHAD have maimed a city... a people... the very spirit of a nation.
There is a conspiracy in the back door of the hotel I once fondly visited... I now look at the pictures of what remains of it and ask myself... when an ICON has been marred... where do I stand in the scheme of things... I am an insignificant part of the larger picture... a mere dot on the canvas of India.
I want to make my stand clear... I want to stand up for what I believe in... and in this little note that I write I am sharing my thought... a thought I know I must work upon... I know I must use the positive energy that I have deep within... to create a new thought... I cannot change the world... but I know that I can change the way I see the world... and know that there are more people like me... somewhere around me... who know that they too must walk this narrow path at the risk of being rebuked... but sow the seeds of a new and resurgent India... where the youth come to the fore and take a stand on what they want to see and ensure that what they see is really what they get.
Every person who has risen beyond the moment of grief... have come to the conclusion that we as a people need to stand up and take responsibility.. to open our eyes and keep a vigil on the goings on around us. To know that every reaction, every ARK... Act of Random Kindness will be the first ripple of creating a larger consciousness in our country.

I hear voices scream out and fling the responsibility on Pakistan and Politicians... I agree with them... but the next thought that comes to demand my attention!!!!
Is this really the need of the hour?
We have dramatised versions of every BREAKING NEWS... you hear the heroic stories on TV and hear of the rather cowardly reactions from those on the ground... people of Mumbai... atleast the ones I have spoken with... have a different story to tell. For the people who's life has come to an eerie standstill... well... there thoughts are reflected in muted silence at the mention of the words... "What's the latest?"

Simple walks in their own compounds have become a thing to contemplate... they do not feel safe in the compounds where they've spent long hours justs walking around. Mumbai is the most crowded city I have been to, often, in my conversations I keep talking about the vibrant energies of the city of Mumbai. Today... I hear stories of deserted roads... people are not sure whether to be brave and walk out of their home... or to sit inside the confines of their homes and hope that terror does not come close to where they stay.
Is this the MUMBAI we know??? For those of you who have had the chance to sample the energy of Mumbai... this is eerie. A colleague of mine tells me... that there is an eerie silence on the roads... the drive from Juhu to Chembur... a happy 40 minutes only... for the streets are so deserted... and the fear factor so high... that a simple cracker will bring back the sound of fear. The fear that the person that walks into the space we are in with a rucksack... could possibly be a terrorist.... damn... as I write this I can feel the chill down my spine... I cannot begin to imagine... what it is like for the people who have actually been through the trauma.

This, in my opinion... is the wake up call... for a BILLION people to take a stand... and work together... beyond the confines of caste and creed... lets come together a nation by design... a design generated by the coming together of the youth... to take over the legacy we owe the generations to come...

This is but a seed... a thought that will find expression in the coming together of every Indian youth... to come forward and claim their rightful place in planning the future of India. This is a turning point... and we have the right to choose the direction in which we turn.