On 9/11/09 Yahoo ran a photo on it’s main page, which showed a banner fluttering in the wind, hung on the top of a building with the words “We will never forget”. Search for the words “We will never forget” on Google, and you get hundreds of images, all etched with these words and pictures of the American flag, the twin towers or the memorials which have been erected in the memory of all those lives lost then. Year after year, Americans remember the incident and mourn all those who died in that tragedy. The outrage is alive and well.
On the 26th of November, 2008, Mumbai in India was attacked by people with similarly evil intentions. This year as the world remembers that attack, we mourn all those who were lost. This year, candle-light vigils are held, people gather to read tributes, Indian politicians lead parades to mark the date. NDTV’s website is full of 26/11, as it has come to be known. Will it be the same next year and the next ?
9/11 was the first and biggest overt onslaught by terrorists on America and on US soil. India on the other hand, has been fighting terrorists from across the border for a long time. There have been many such 26/11s even before the one in 2008. Remember the 2005 Delhi bombings ? What about the 1993 bombings of Mumbai, then Bombay ? Recall that there was an incident where professors of IISc Bangalore were shot at. In 2001, the Indian Parliament was attacked. In 2007, the Samjhauta Express was attacked mid January, near Panipat. In Hyderabad, two bombs exploded simultaneously in crowded public places, in 2007. In July of 2008 itself, a series of bomb blasts occurred in Bangalore. Search back to the 1990s , and you’ll see the hijack of Indian Airline Flight 814, which was then forced to land in Kandahar, Afghanistan.
These are just a few of the numerous attacks that India has borne over the past 2 decades. After each one, there has been anger and outrage. But soon anger dims, outrage lessens. The Indian media takes pride in moving on. Indians are portrayed as being stoic, moving on, forgetting ? Innocent lives are lost one year, but are they remembered the next ? Seemingly there is no outrage, and if there is, cynical old me thinks it is lost among the many other atrocities taking place; there are probably many other juicier news stories we search for and read, rather than a couple of people who are no more, yes ? Indian blood is spilt, has been spilt for many years now, and forgotten behind mumbled platitudes. Are lives, each life tied to numerous others – a father, a mother, brother, sister, wife, daughter – really that cheap ?
American lives are being lost in the war on terror being fought in Afghanistan and Iraq. This war, perceived by many as an unjust one, nevertheless is taking it’s toll on American soldiers and their families. Like war does. Everytime a soldier from my city loses his life, his loss is reported, mourned city-wide. His lost life is not forgotten in the bigger story of the war. I hear of the soldier, his life, his family, his service to the nation and to it’s cause. I hear of his sedated wife, see his now-orphan toddler smile innocently at the camera, his aged father wipe away his tears. I see that bonds have snapped forcibly by one death. I also see that with that one death, we have lost a great deal.
I remember the bombings in Sadar Bazar in Delhi when bomb blasts ripped through that crowded market, and being thankful that none of my family was anywhere in the vicinity at that time. But what of those who were ? They had families too, but do we mark their deaths ? Do we even remember that date ? Why is there not a 3/1 anniversary ? Why is there not a 8/25/03 (Mumbai) ? Why not a December 28, 2005 (Bangalore) ?
There can never be a doubt in our minds that a single life lost is a humongous outrage, whether it be through a terrorist attack, a religious riot, or an honor killing. We must remember each and every one of those lost lives. We must keep alive that outrage, that anger against those who take lives that were not theirs for the taking. If we forget this will happen, again and again. Lives, bright and beautiful, will be snuffed out, and we, who will never be whole again, will let slip that knowledge through the cracks in our minds, until we remember no more those who were lost forever for no fault of theirs.
Always remember. 9/11. 26/11. 25/1. 16/2. 16/3. 20/4. 22/5. 19/6. 11/7. 10/8. 27/9. 14/10. 17/11. 13/12 . . . . . .
NEVER FORGET.
