26/11 - Rape of human sensibility

Writing, it is said, is one of the outlets for releasing that accumulated angst, anger and anguish. Especially, when your thoughts are maimed by certain events beyond your control and you feel incapacitated in more ways than one. I write these lines as I watch, read and reflect on the gory events that eerily unfolded since the late hours of 26/11/08 when Mumbai was marauded for her magnificence, benevolence and tolerance.

Those unforgettable sixty hours
Glued to their televisions were millions of Indians
And people from rest of the world
Watching one of the worst, heinous and despicable
Acts of timidity and barbarity
Unfolding in unperceivably obscene manner
Targeting hotels, hospital and railway terminus
Involving people from different countries, faiths
Innocent people, most vulnerable
Blindly slain, held hostage or massacred in cruelest manner
Perhaps the most abhorrent terrorist attack

Was it merely the city of Mumbai that was marauded?
Was it just the siege of an iconic heritage structure?
Certainly not!
An act of unimaginably inhuman magnitude
Planned and executed with such precision
Impacting the human psyche in ways impossible to frame in words
Probably worse than any act of physical violence

To me, it was a rape of human sensibility
Outraging the modesty of human values
A rape by gang of misled youth
suicidal and
Unconscious of their dastardly deeds
Driven and used by destructive agencies
Unabashed by sights of human carnage
While meeting their target in the form of numbers killed

Leaving more questions than answers
As we count the dead and injured
As we mourn the martyrs
As we assess the damage done to the edifices
As we wonder when normalcy would be restored
As we listen to the victims and survivors sharing their experiences
As we empathize and choke
As we sleep and wake up
As we...

Little realizing that
If anyone is to be blamed, it is us!