After a long day at college, I came home thinking of all the assignments I have pending and how much I have to do when I saw the computer. Its times like these I wish I didn’t have a P.C… like hypnotized I went to it and sat myself facing it, switched it on. It had been ages I hadn’t logged into my Yahoo messenger. I did just that, not even a second later a friend who was already online pinged me, and we were chatting away to glory when he mentioned something gave me the “greatest news of the day”- Delhi Blast.
“God! They have been showing that since centuries now… the news channels… don’t they get bored?”
“What’s the news they’re ranting about now… aliens kidnapping cattle, again?” I asked.
“No… haven’t you heard, blasts in Delhi… 20 dead… atleast they say its 20!”
I was horrified! I received the Abhi-Ash wedding news in a much serious way!! The next day it was of course, all over the papers: Blasts in Jaipur, Hyderabad, Ahemdabad, Surat and Delhi. What shocked me more than the news of the blast is the way in which it is told! It’s almost like a routine, bomb blasts in India are. We are so accustomed to hearing things like that, its NORMAL talk when we’re talking about it. That is what bothers me no end! How can we get used to things like that? Adaptability is one thing and downright shameless apathy is another… and I am not sure where our reactions lie between the two.
Its not just bomb blasts… floods, starvation, train accidents, corruption- NOT NORMAL! I think it’s because of the attitude like this that it’s as if nothing is being done. There were articles written all over about The Survival Spirit of Mumbaikars: right after the blasts, people resumed their lives; work, schools, colleges went on like before. It was not much the survival spirits than the hungry stomachs that had to be fed that made us resume our “normal” lives. We need to rethink what is normal… maybe knowing what normal is will help us be aware of our subnormal existence! To change the behaviours, attitudes and thoughts need to be changed… that is entirely in our hands. If we want a change, it should start with ourselves.
