Mumbai has changed since the 1992-93 riots. I was 10 at the time and since that day I had always feeling that the city lives on the starting gun of a tense predicament of a volcanic violence about to erupt anytime. It was said of the September 11 attacks that the action was a resultant of an apathetic junk culture that prevailed in the country for almost a decade where the OJ Simpson trial and the Clinton sex story grabbed the headlines monotony. In case you have missed the previous statement, I'll reiterate, Apathy. Ten years of oblivion and then the American Dream was introduced to Freddy Kruger.
The Mohalla Committee is an acknowledgement of a convenient divergence and distraction from the mainstream ideology of the proper channelised look towards the riots. It sounds like a 15 minute session with a psychiatrist where the only concern is how the sessions are to be prolonged. Once the session stops, the only question would be - What would be the withdrawal effects?
Suketu Mehta, in his book 'Maximum City', has put the city on show the actions in front of eyes our are superficial and intentions are well concealed. Has anyone wondered why the hell Madanpura (an area of Mumbai Central) has stored anti-aircraft guns for and where and how in blazes do they come in from?
What was the motive? "You could keep the guns as long as you do not use them..."
I felt that this was an important question which will never be answered and blind estimations consider the imperativeness of the Mohalla Committee.
It has been 15 years on since the plague but I would always wonder - What about the rats that carried it?
3 comments:
Rats with plagues..the demon is dead but the ghost still wanders.. movements like mohalla committees is a chance that a man gives to HOPE...
well written..simple, precise, sharp...like the title and the end..
I was browsing thru your blogs and I dunno why I felt compelled to comment on this blog of urs. U see, rats might have been carriers of the deadly plague but the funny part is the spread of the Plague from Rats to Humans is not deliberate. Humans on the other hand quite deliberately and methodically and moreover so routinely spread their plague within the species and to other species. The most astonishing part is that human beings though capable of using their gifted reasoning power quite often don't use it. Another point I have always pondered upon is that is "Faith" synonymous with "religion"? U see when a child is born, what identity does he have, does he have one? Why of course he does, he is most simply put an offspring of a human being, like a calf or a pup or any other young of another species. Picture this, we have seen time and again, what and how a human being acts and behaves, after being conditioned with phenomena like religion, tradition and all that jazz. Has anyone wondered how a "Rat" would. behave without such conditioning? Maybe exactly the same or maybe the "Rat" would not kill unless he was hungry? Purists would argue that humans actually get sense of direction when conditioned with religion but has anyone ever wondered that the concept of religion is to embrace unconditionally and not be selective about whom and what to embrace and unleash wrath on the rest. How can religion reinforce man's desire to reign supreme rather than induce humility? Sometimes I wonder if the "Rats" must be treated with their own plague by let's say having the "Rats" go through a test before they can be accepted into a religion so that they don't project their filth on the concept of religion!
I was browsing thru your blogs and I dunno why I felt compelled to comment on this blog of urs. U see, rats might have been carriers of the deadly plague but the funny part is the spread of the Plague from Rats to Humans is not deliberate. Humans on the other hand quite deliberately and methodically and moreover so routinely spread their plague within the species and to other species. The most astonishing part is that human beings though capable of using their gifted reasoning power quite often don't use it. Another point I have always pondered upon is that is "Faith" synonymous with "religion"? U see when a child is born, what identity does he have, does he have one? Why of course he does, he is most simply put an offspring of a human being, like a calf or a pup or any other young of another species. Picture this, we have seen time and again, what and how a human being acts and behaves, after being conditioned with phenomena like religion, tradition and all that jazz. Has anyone wondered how a "Rat" would. behave without such conditioning? Maybe exactly the same or maybe the "Rat" would not kill unless he was hungry? Purists would argue that humans actually get sense of direction when conditioned with religion but has anyone ever wondered that the concept of religion is to embrace unconditionally and not be selective about whom and what to embrace and unleash wrath on the rest. How can religion reinforce man's desire to reign supreme rather than induce humility? Sometimes I wonder if the "Rats" must be treated with their own plague by let's say having the "Rats" go through a test before they can be accepted into a religion so that they don't project their filth on the concept of religion!
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