Memories

 Generally I do not much vouch for jingoism. Yet I cannot but remember the Pahalgam visuals. Exactly a year ago, when most all indians were in the "God is in His heaven-/ Everything is all right with the world" kind of contented spring mood, out of nowhere emerged terrorists, and opened fire on the handful happily frolicking tourists at Pahalgam! 

The scenes were heart rending, a young bride, for instance, with the wedding mehendi on her palms and the marriage chuda on her wrists sitting dazedly near her brand new husband's dead body, her hardly two days old marriage forever over. 

Much more moving were the tragic stories narrated by the survivors. Fathers and husbands were brutally bulleted right in front of their children and wives. Two of such suffering families live in the Aranyeshwar area, some two kilometers away from my home! 

Across the whole of India, all of us have such neighbours never known, yet whose intense pain we all experienced deeply. All of us felt anger not only against the jihadi murderers, but also against the shallow sympathisers who rushed to Pahalgam so that continues unabated the tourist business of the locals, without whose overt or subtle support, such havoc could not have taken place in the first place! 

Well known is the rest of the story, Operation Sindoor, the creepy, crazy politicking over it, the usual headlines, the typical t.v. debates, the same sorry stuff searching the 'breaking news'! Yet just unforgettable are those shots, both by the cruel Ak-47's and by the candid cameras, the hurtful memories! 

Pratima@ True, April 22 is the National Services day, just as it is the World Earth Day, celebrated the same routine way. But, for me, matter memories reflecting 'the tender grace of a day that is dead/will never come back to me.'

Quote of the day:                                                            "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere," says Martin Luther King.

Word of the day: terrorism                                         Terrorism is the unlawful use or threat of violence against civilians or governments to induce fear, and achieve political, ideological, or religious goals. It often involves non-state actors targeting non-combatants, though state-sponsored terrorism does exist.