Massacre at Mumbai
Tuesday, 2 December 2008
THE dreadful drama that unfolded over the better part of three days and was telecast over several television channels -- Indian, BBC, CNN, SKY, etc., had many resemblance with the American nightmare of 9/11, not in terms of tragedy but by the reaction of their media. I had thought NDTV to be different but that was a big ask. Indians like melodrama and that is what it was. NDTV turned out to be a super-patriot just under the surface.
The TV screen was split in half, left and right. On the left side was emblazoned: "Enough is enough - India's 9/11". It was not clear just what was so enough. Where they asking the terrorists to spare them or was it a slogan to declare a 'war on terror' (old George Bush's catchphrase to kill Muslims in Iraq and Afghanistan for oil and oil pipeline). So what did they have in mind? Attack Pakistan militarily? Both would get a bloody nose for sure because it would not be so one sided as the Indian rabble think.
Then there was one Barka or Barkha, a female TV presenter, who was ready to start a riot against the Muslims of Mumbai and if possible all over India making veiled and at times not so veiled insinuations against the Muslims of India, but certainly Pakistan as well. And we had witnessed the same thing in most western media after the Twin Tower destruction-super patriotism.
There were many other examples of hysteria and melodrama which were aired and I will mention just one more: Amitabh Bachchan. This is somebody I have admired for a long time but he too disappointed.
This august man declared that from henceforth he would sleep with his licensed loaded .32 pistol under his pillow! His wife and daughter once told the host (Karan Johar) in a TV talk show that they wanted to send a red rose to George Bush, they so admired him.
If any terrorist, say someone who didn't think much of Boy George, wanted to get at the Big B for his wife and daughter's unbridled admiration for the American psychopath, it would be better for him to curl over inside a loaded tank because a pea-shooter like a .32 wouldn't be very effective against those killers. One would have expected Bachchan to say a few words for the victims but he thought he was an angry old man in one of his movies.
Only an uncivilized and utterly insensitive person would condone what those vile creatures have done, and their masters who sent them deserve the highest punishment, but please spare us the super-patriotic hysterical melodrama.
One of the more saner voices was cricket commentator Harsha Bhogle who warned against communal violence instigated by self-serving political thugs (like Narender Modi, for instance) and also vented his anger at people who were piously declaring that Mumbai residents were resilient every time some serious tragedy hit them, from the floods to the bombings to the recent carnage.
Sharmin
Dhanmondi Residential Area
Dhaka
The TV screen was split in half, left and right. On the left side was emblazoned: "Enough is enough - India's 9/11". It was not clear just what was so enough. Where they asking the terrorists to spare them or was it a slogan to declare a 'war on terror' (old George Bush's catchphrase to kill Muslims in Iraq and Afghanistan for oil and oil pipeline). So what did they have in mind? Attack Pakistan militarily? Both would get a bloody nose for sure because it would not be so one sided as the Indian rabble think.
Then there was one Barka or Barkha, a female TV presenter, who was ready to start a riot against the Muslims of Mumbai and if possible all over India making veiled and at times not so veiled insinuations against the Muslims of India, but certainly Pakistan as well. And we had witnessed the same thing in most western media after the Twin Tower destruction-super patriotism.
There were many other examples of hysteria and melodrama which were aired and I will mention just one more: Amitabh Bachchan. This is somebody I have admired for a long time but he too disappointed.
This august man declared that from henceforth he would sleep with his licensed loaded .32 pistol under his pillow! His wife and daughter once told the host (Karan Johar) in a TV talk show that they wanted to send a red rose to George Bush, they so admired him.
If any terrorist, say someone who didn't think much of Boy George, wanted to get at the Big B for his wife and daughter's unbridled admiration for the American psychopath, it would be better for him to curl over inside a loaded tank because a pea-shooter like a .32 wouldn't be very effective against those killers. One would have expected Bachchan to say a few words for the victims but he thought he was an angry old man in one of his movies.
Only an uncivilized and utterly insensitive person would condone what those vile creatures have done, and their masters who sent them deserve the highest punishment, but please spare us the super-patriotic hysterical melodrama.
One of the more saner voices was cricket commentator Harsha Bhogle who warned against communal violence instigated by self-serving political thugs (like Narender Modi, for instance) and also vented his anger at people who were piously declaring that Mumbai residents were resilient every time some serious tragedy hit them, from the floods to the bombings to the recent carnage.
Sharmin
Dhanmondi Residential Area
Dhaka