“Get up Ravi,” answering machine announced.
“Why? Let me sleep Rexy. This is Sunday today,” I requested.
Requested because this is all you can do when you are talking to a girl. These girls are so egoistic and egotistic, they understand only please, can, and may words!!!
“No Ravi, we need to go. I have to submit my thesis and in the wake of Mumbai terror, I have got the theme of my thesis. So get up and pick me up at 7,” voice asserted, advised, ordered and then shut up.
Rexy is doing her PhD and her thesis topic is South Asian terrorism. So we have to go to meet one family whose sole son is a martyr and died in combating terrorists, and the other family whose sole son was a terrorist and died in combating Indian armed forces.
“You are late. I asked you to come at 7 and it’s 8:30,” Rexy shouted, apparently angry waiting outside her home for quite long.
“Let’s have some coffee first,” I hit her raw nerve. You see, girls have a unique chemistry between coffee at coffee café day and choleric. The more you take them to café day, the less choleric they get and vice versa.
“So, where are we starting from,” I asked.
“We will go to meet the family of great martyr first,” Rexy said and we reached the home of the martyr.
Scene 1
“Namaste,” Rexy gestured along with her broad Canadian accent.
“We have come to know about Major Khan,” Rexy requested. It gives lot of satisfaction seeing girls requesting!!
“Imran was an outstanding student, a brilliant sportsperson, a great Indian, and the best son of India,” Imran’s mother told, her eyes welled up with tears, but tone exuding pride in being the mother of a martyr.
Her voice had determination, hands becoming fists every time she remembering her son.
The same pride I and Rexy could feel in every person we met in Meerut.
“I am amazed at the way everyone here remembers a martyr,” Rexy said getting emotional along with some dew drops in her eyes.
“Do you miss your son,” Rexy asked his dad.
I felt furious at this question. What kind of question this was after all!!!
“Yes, I wish he were alive. If he were alive, he could kill many more terrorists, and could be a part of operation cyclone to kill terrorists in Mumbai,” Imran’s Dad wished.
This was the first family we met. The pride parents feel when their children do something extra-ordinary, something which we ordinary human beings can’t even imagine, is something which can only be felt. No dictionary has such words which can define that pride.
And if at all there’s any such word, then that word is Salute!!!
Scene 2
“Excuse me, can you tell us about Bashir’s house,” Rexy asked someone at azamgarh’s bus stop.
“No, we don’t know anything about that,” the voice vehemently responded.
Rather than responding with ‘I don’t know’, his response ‘we don’t know’ was something we felt abstruse.
“Excuse me Madam, can you suggest us Bashir’s house,” Rexy asked one burqua-clad woman.
“That terrorist,” voice answered with a question.
Rexy nodded, both stunned and shocked.
After all, why would a muslim woman address Bashir as a terrorist.
After all, Bashir was a muslim who fought for zihaad and died for a purpose. Isn’t it?
“Terrorist??” Rexy wondered
“What else. He attacked our nation. He killed innocent children, women and people. How else would you define him?” her voice had rage.
This is something Rexy and I weren’t very acquainted and comfortable with. An illetrate-looking woman had clear convictions about who Bashir was.
“And not once did he think how would his parents live their old ages with this stigma that their son was a terrorist, a traitor, a betrayer” she spelt curse for Bashir and left.
Somehow we reached Bashir’s house and on request, his father started:
“Bashir was our only son. We are a poor family, still decided for his best education. After his +2, I took loan from a lender for his Engineering. He finished his Engineering and joined a high-tech company. Then I thought he would pay his loan. But one day read in news that he was behind many bomb blasts in India. He died but left us in living hell, we are made to live with stigma of being parents of a terrorist, a traitor. I am working as a watchman at night to earn money at this age to pay for his loan I took from local people,” old man told and then broke up.
“I am so sorry we gave birth to such a son,” Bashir’s mother regretted.
Our two scenes ended and we returned to Bangalore.
It’s 9 at night, and I am sitting in balcony working on this post. Rexy is busy preparing coffee (how lucky you feel when your girlfriend prepares coffee for you at home, that too for free).
I am pondering about the state of 2 families, of the parents of a martyr and a terrorist.
One mother wants to give birth to Imran in her every birth, other mother is so sorry to give birth to Bashir in this birth.
I feel sorry for Bashir’s parents for the stigma they experience everyday for the evil deeds of their sole son.
I wish I could show these 2 scenes to all terrorists to convince them get back into mainstream, rather than playing into hands of foreign terrorist organizations. I wish that many more Bashir’s take examples of Major Khan rather than of bastard Osama.
May God give these digressed nestlings the illumination that they can experience and feel these 2 scenes, and get back to mainstream leaving their heinous and lethal activities far behind. May these digressed nestlings help make India the best place on the planet.
The Zion!! The Utopia!! The Shangri-La!!!
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Heroes Reinvented!!!
Heinous Mumbai act is over. All seized symbolic monuments of financial prosperity of Mumbai have been freed and dead bodies of innocent people have been handed over to their loved ones. In essence, Mumbai is back to business like ever before, but with a difference this time.
I am talking about the Re-invented Heroes, the hitherto unsung heroes of India state. The heroes who have always worked whole-heartedly for the service of the nation, notwithstanding the nonchalance with which society has always reciprocated to them. I am talking of those armed forces, those National Security guards, those Marine commandos, and those para-military forces which have always served the nation when called.
If I have to find one good out of the entire gloom, this would be our Re-invented heroes.
When Mumbai was seething, there was no such hero whose body had 6 packs, there was no such larger-than-life person who has taken enough steroids to make his body best-fit for his upcoming movie, and there was no such hero who anchored dangerous acts of Indian celebrity girls on a newly launched channel. All these paper heroes were absent.
I couldn’t find any such hero there whom we all have grown up seeing fighting 10 villains at a time. The same hero writes in his blog that he couldn’t sleep whole night and had to keep a loaded gun under his pillow!!! And the irony of this nation is that such heroes have always been talked about, songs recited about, yagnas done for et al.
I failed to find even that hero who is very notorious to fight with co-stars and colleagues. And when he had a brawl with some colleague some time back at some birthday party, he was media’s darling. Where was that darling when Mumbai was seething!!! Was he hiding himself under his bed or what!!!
I couldn’t find even that hero who is our hero because he hits 4 sixes in an over, or because he is very aggressive on the field dancing like jokers after hitting a six. These were our heroes, the undeserving, much talked about heroes.
And then yesterday, I saw the real heroes. The heroes who didn’t have 6 packs, who mightn’t be having large mass appeal, and those who know that they would be unsung heroes again within weeks with a release of couple of movies of paper heroes, and sixes of other paper heroes. But for me, I had my heroes re-invented yesterday. The heroes who are so down to earth and so humble that everyone would wonder that these are the same heroes who carry those wits and courage to nip any enemy, and mind you, the real enemy, not the villains of silver screen.
In a way, this incident was an eye-opener for Indian public. Those politicians who talk all nonsense about nations’ integrity and patriotism were hiding, those movie stars who have those muscles and bodies (I don’t know for what) were nowhere visible at attacked sites, those stars who in movies have killed kidnappers and taken hostages back from kandhar in movies, the business people who always talk of nation were nowhere visible (probably afraid that a bullet might pass thro’ their heart also, the heart that carries all love for India!!!). Only people remembered at that time were these hitherto unsung heroes, those whom everyone knows as real heroes, but who, in our day-to-day hypocrisies, we all had forgotten.
India, this is not the day to get complacent again. And if you do, everyone can take my words for granted-we would be the worst and most cunning and selfish state in the world. This is the time to get up, stay united and stand up to high-five our real heroes. The heroes who die for nation, no matter what!!! These are the heroes who don’t have the luxury to take 10 re-shots to look more heroic in acts, these heroes don’t do any make ups on their faces, they also don’t have expensive clothes to wear, these heroes also don’t have pony-tails, these heroes also don’t marry the so-called most beautiful women of the world (as per media), and these heroes also don’t take steroids to show their fake and useless body to India public.
But these heroes have got that heart which beats for India cause. These heroes have got that chest that is ever ready to face a bullet on their heart, and these heroes have got that perfection that they really never need any re-shots in real life while killing villains. These heroes always look heroic in their acts, in their uniforms, their gait, their army hair-cut, and above all, in their zeal to serve mother India.
I salute these Re-invented heroes, and take the vow today not to forget the sacrifice this time. No more paper heroes, the time has arrived to sing songs of these lions. This is my humble homage and tribute to my Heroes. Jai Hind!!!!
I am talking about the Re-invented Heroes, the hitherto unsung heroes of India state. The heroes who have always worked whole-heartedly for the service of the nation, notwithstanding the nonchalance with which society has always reciprocated to them. I am talking of those armed forces, those National Security guards, those Marine commandos, and those para-military forces which have always served the nation when called.
If I have to find one good out of the entire gloom, this would be our Re-invented heroes.
When Mumbai was seething, there was no such hero whose body had 6 packs, there was no such larger-than-life person who has taken enough steroids to make his body best-fit for his upcoming movie, and there was no such hero who anchored dangerous acts of Indian celebrity girls on a newly launched channel. All these paper heroes were absent.
I couldn’t find any such hero there whom we all have grown up seeing fighting 10 villains at a time. The same hero writes in his blog that he couldn’t sleep whole night and had to keep a loaded gun under his pillow!!! And the irony of this nation is that such heroes have always been talked about, songs recited about, yagnas done for et al.
I failed to find even that hero who is very notorious to fight with co-stars and colleagues. And when he had a brawl with some colleague some time back at some birthday party, he was media’s darling. Where was that darling when Mumbai was seething!!! Was he hiding himself under his bed or what!!!
I couldn’t find even that hero who is our hero because he hits 4 sixes in an over, or because he is very aggressive on the field dancing like jokers after hitting a six. These were our heroes, the undeserving, much talked about heroes.
And then yesterday, I saw the real heroes. The heroes who didn’t have 6 packs, who mightn’t be having large mass appeal, and those who know that they would be unsung heroes again within weeks with a release of couple of movies of paper heroes, and sixes of other paper heroes. But for me, I had my heroes re-invented yesterday. The heroes who are so down to earth and so humble that everyone would wonder that these are the same heroes who carry those wits and courage to nip any enemy, and mind you, the real enemy, not the villains of silver screen.
In a way, this incident was an eye-opener for Indian public. Those politicians who talk all nonsense about nations’ integrity and patriotism were hiding, those movie stars who have those muscles and bodies (I don’t know for what) were nowhere visible at attacked sites, those stars who in movies have killed kidnappers and taken hostages back from kandhar in movies, the business people who always talk of nation were nowhere visible (probably afraid that a bullet might pass thro’ their heart also, the heart that carries all love for India!!!). Only people remembered at that time were these hitherto unsung heroes, those whom everyone knows as real heroes, but who, in our day-to-day hypocrisies, we all had forgotten.
India, this is not the day to get complacent again. And if you do, everyone can take my words for granted-we would be the worst and most cunning and selfish state in the world. This is the time to get up, stay united and stand up to high-five our real heroes. The heroes who die for nation, no matter what!!! These are the heroes who don’t have the luxury to take 10 re-shots to look more heroic in acts, these heroes don’t do any make ups on their faces, they also don’t have expensive clothes to wear, these heroes also don’t have pony-tails, these heroes also don’t marry the so-called most beautiful women of the world (as per media), and these heroes also don’t take steroids to show their fake and useless body to India public.
But these heroes have got that heart which beats for India cause. These heroes have got that chest that is ever ready to face a bullet on their heart, and these heroes have got that perfection that they really never need any re-shots in real life while killing villains. These heroes always look heroic in their acts, in their uniforms, their gait, their army hair-cut, and above all, in their zeal to serve mother India.
I salute these Re-invented heroes, and take the vow today not to forget the sacrifice this time. No more paper heroes, the time has arrived to sing songs of these lions. This is my humble homage and tribute to my Heroes. Jai Hind!!!!
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