If Only...

The official death toll, though conflicting, stands at 183. The number of injured stands at 287. While I cannot possibly imagine what the families of those lost and injured are going through, I pray that God gives you the strength to accept what has happened. My heart cries with you.

I offer this as my reaction as a young citizen of this country. I am not, in any way, asserting that these are the solutions to the crisis...however, what I am suggesting is that these are questions we need to ask ourselves before we can even think of any solution.

Politicians

If only politicians would sit at their desks and sign their resignation letters, accepting their incompetence instead of visiting the disaster sights to offer their petty interviews and show their pretentious faces....

If only politicians were interested in the interests of the Nation instead of fulfilling their personal and party agendas...

If only politicians were accountable for how they govern instead of playing politics over the bleeding bodies of those shot and wounded...

If only politicians would hug the son of late ATS Chief Hemant Karkare instead of equating the loss of life with how much money they can offer in compensation...

If only politicians would treat us as Human Beings instead of Vote Banks...

You and Me

If only you and me would look in the mirror and asks ourselves how we have served our country in 20 or so years of our lives...

If only you and me come together as the educated GenNext with the resolve to contribute to our great Nation instead making hollow claims of “Youngistaan” in soft drink ads...

If only you and me were aware enough to file RTI applications, raising questions, instead of scrapping on Orkut and Facebook...

If only you and me would sit and have constructive discussions about our polity with such interest as we discuss the ‘hook ups’ and ‘break ups’ in college...

If only you and me had the determination to join the army and serve the Nation instead of sitting within the protective walls of our modern age high rise offices...

If only you and me would join the civil and administrative services instead of sitting for foreign posting MNC placements...

If only you and me had the resolve to join the police forces instead of commenting on their incompetence and inefficiency...

If only you and me would try lying on our stomach for two days without food instead of going on national television and questioning the operations conducted by the security forces...

If only you and me would have the civic sense to drive within speed limits and not cut lanes instead of blaming traffic jams...

If only you and me would have the courage to accept our own infirmities first before shouting out slogans and displaying banners at peace marches...

If only you and me take this opportunity to bring about a change at this age when we can make that difference instead of spending our present lives drinking, smoking and partying....

The People

If only the people realise that it is ‘WE’ who are to blame...

If only the people realise that it is ‘WE’ who vote the politicians into power instead of blaming the system...

If only the people realise that it is ‘WE’ who have to change ourselves from within before trying to the change the system...

If only the people realise that it is ‘WE’ who have to stand united in the face of terror...

If only the people realise that it is ‘WE’ who have to stop blaming a particular religion for the face-less religion-less acts or terror...

If only the people realise that it is ‘WE’ who have to rebuild the faith in secularism in our beloved country...

If only the people realise that it is ‘WE’ who have to use our education as a weapon to fight the filthy politics of this country...

If only the people realise that it is ‘WE’ who have to be responsible citizens and turn out at polling booths to vote instead of blaming the government...

If only the people realise that it is ‘WE’ who have to be patient enough to get checked at stations for our own safety instead of cursing the queue and the inefficiency of the police force...

If only the people realise that it is ‘WE’ who have to be patient enough and wait for government offices to do the work instead of paying bribes and then calling the system corrupt...

If only the people realise that it is ‘WE’ who have to take the blame for the divisive politics in this country...

If only the people realise that it is about ‘WE’ and not ‘ME’...

If only ENOUGH was ENOUGH the first time lives were lost to terrorism...
If only...