Who has the answers?

I was on the lonely planet website a few days ago. I needed some information about different countries and preferred to refer to the bright-coloured, simple-language, basically-fun portal than the boring others with mundane facts in archaic language. I checked the homepage to see who the editor was and it turned out to be Vivek Wagle - an Indian! I was so pleasantly surprised. I'm not sure if I should have been. Indians have been doing great things for a long time. But it was just such an an unexpected find in such an unexpected place that it made me smile.

My mind jogged back to the time I had heard news stories reporting an Indian as an Adobe top executive. Ditto with Citibank. My latest finding is Raju Narisetti whose achievements I am particularly enamored with. Indian soil boasts several well-accomplished natives, overseas and at home, in a range of fields, among its many other positives. I could go on and on forever. But the point I'm trying to make is that despite all the "advancement" the country is making, why are some treacherous people inisistent on keeping it in the dark ages? And succeeding at it!

The Mumbai November 2008 blasts are another incident in a steady trail of terror that the country has endured over the past few months. It's becoming really stale but thankfully not stale enough to shock the human senses. The scary part is when people become immune to the violence and cease to react to it anymore. An uneasy feeling tells me that is not far away though. I sincerely hope that is the pessimist in me thinking out loud and not much more.

How many times can a country be battered? How many times will it tolerate its spirit being threatened? How many times is it expected to dip into its fast-depleting reserves of resilience and "bounce back?" The real question is, how many times is it "supposed" to? None. It should never feel the need to.

We don't live in an ideal world and this rubbish continues to persist. What scares me more than numb human senses is the potentially ugly form that the retailiation is likely to take. Why does that scare me, although the majority will agree that it's jutified?...because rather than purge the evil from its own society, the action suggests more damage to an already tattered social fabric. I'm not sure it will hold up much longer. The futility just seems to outweigh the advantage.

Just when we feel like we have so much to look forward to, so much to celebrate about, sadisitic elements are adamant about ensuring regression and its perpetuity. Damn you cowards.

I have no answers, like many out there. And no one's in the mood for lofty claims that can't be translated to action immediately. Innocent men, women and children have paid the price. Men of valor have been extinguished in the line of duty. Visitors on holiday have been killed and those who survive have bitter memories of a land known for its hopitality.

This is getting stale. And I don't want to think of what could ensue in the aftermath.

Here's a great link, commenting on the tragedy, by one of my favorite authors: http://www.shantaram.com/