My black birthday

25th November, I was drafting my post birthday blog post already…leaving spaces for pictures of my yet-to-be-received gifts. Like every year, I had all the plans to make my birthday last for +- 3 days. At 11:30 pm on the 26th, a friend from Mumbai called to wish me. During our usual chat I happened to ask how was Mumbai treating her. 3 more sentences were exchanged and my birthday was over for me half n hour before it actually did. Suddenly the celebration seemed so out of place against the horrors of terrorism in Mumbai.

Next morning when I opened the post, I simply Shift+Deleted it. And I haven’t been able to write anything since, which explains my almost 20 day absence. Even now it discomforts me to talk about it. But this morning I read a line quoted by a Rwanda refugee – “When we are haunted by painful memories, it is important to talk about them and share them so that the process of healing can take over…”, though I doubt anything can ever heal or repair the losses of the people who fell prey to the fanatic idiots.

Yes, life goes on. And the spirit of Mumbai, the spirit of an Indian cannot be marred by the inhuman actions of a few people who are not even worth an abuse. But it’s high time we stop tolerating it in the name of our spirit and it’s good that people have realized it. No one has a control over what his/her future has in store…but if we work for it…we can surely make it better, can surely add a healing touch…

As for my birthday, I don't know if i'll look forward to it the way I do ever again. I feel extremely sorry that it became a lifelong scar for so many of my countrymen. 

My black birthday.

 

1 comments:

Sumanth said...

that was saddening...
it was blackday, unfortunately a black birthday to you...!
well, such incidents shall make our country full of wounded tiger's which shall never rest until it succeeds in its strike back...n Im sure that will happen, sooner or later!