For the change that we seek...

I attended a protest march in response to the Mumbai attack and its repercussions today at the Gateway of India. And I must say I was not impressed; not impressed by the fact that we are still not ready for what we are asking for – The change. And now my belief, that whatever happened was what we deserve, has been reinforced.

 I wasn’t angry till now. I was not angry to know that my city has been so ruthlessly attacked because I understood that it’s a system’s failure and I and quite a lot of people I know were doing our bit to correct it.

 But I am angry now when I know the fact that my fellow citizens are as useless as those politicians they were seeking answers from.

 Tell me what kind of responsible behavior we expect from our politicians when we don’t feel the responsibility, as small as to keep our city clean ourselves? One should have seen the Gateway and the places around for how badly they had been littered with papers, pamphlets, plastic cups, paper plates and what not. People had gathered with big banners and posters to ask for a change and this and that. But I ask all these people, why the do you not look into yourself and see what kind of change is required in you to bring about it in the whole society? Why don’t you initiate the change in yourself rather than asking questions to everybody else? What kind of responsible behavior it was to throw out hardcore abuses at people/politicians/country in public where we had our women, our children?

 It’s sheer cowardice.

 First of all, you have never been proactive enough to take care of your city, of your country. And now when you react to a particular failure, that too you do because you fear – fear about your own safety? All right, agreed that this safety is your fundamental right. But when you easily forget your fundamental duties of being correct in your own actions, with what rights do you talk about your fundamental rights?

 Any change that has to be brought in a sustainable way has to done because you are motivated by courage and not fear. We need to understand that we are part of the system which has failed and brought upon this terrible moment in Mumbai’s history. We can’t sit outside and ask for change. We have to bring about this change from a holistic view and this change to happen has to start from ourselves… Think about it before you go for your next demonstration, protest march or whatever.