The Buck stops here.

Enough of passing the buck….!

It took a tragedy of huge proportions to truly unite India, sadly though only for a brief while. Hardly had the immediate danger passed, that the ‘blame game’ started. From the opposition who blamed the ruling party, to the ruling party who blamed some of their own, media who blamed the intelligence, who in turn pointed fingers at the Navy… It seems as if India has adopted the mindset “Everyone thought someone else would do it”. And the biggest shirker of responsibility is the Indian populace itself. We are equally culpable.

I don’t mean this in the clichéd sense of ‘we don’t vote for the right people’ and the other trite phrases often used. I mean it in the sense of taking responsibility of the things that happen to us. Have we ever stopped to think just how big a force would be required to protect a sixth of the world’s entire population every minute each day, given that this population doesn’t make matters easy? How many times have we got irritated because security guards at malls were frisking us and checking our bags? Have any of us ever wondered that the perfunctory way in which our bags get checked would also be the way gun-toting strangers’ bags get checked? Do we deem fit to inform authorities when we come across broken metal detectors or do we think someone else will do it? At a much deeper level, how many of us have used ‘shortcuts’ to get our driving licenses and other basic identity proofs? What makes us think that only people like us can duck the system to our advantage?

I am not pontificating here, just thinking of ways in which I can make my life more secure. Without getting into another ‘blame game’ myself, I want us to realize that we cannot always blame ‘others’ for our plight. People might ask what chance we stand against AK-47s and grenedes, but the larger point here is not that. The point is that we, along with the Government, our forces, our media et. al. are equally responsible for creating a country of passive zombies, which provides anonymity as an ideal cover for those who seek it. People over here feel emboldened to carry out any nefarious activities without fear of impunity.

All of us have got into the habit of ‘pop-protests’ wherein we write to papers expressing our solidarity, light candles at the Gateway of India – basically do things that make us feel good but do nothing concrete to actually improve our lot. And sooner or later, even this enthusiasm dies out…

Enough of ducking responsibility… I don’t want to repeat the trauma of those 48 hours and constantly live in the shadow of fear if I can help it. Imagine entrusting my everyday life to ‘others’ who don’t even know of my existence except on paper. I have a few ideas about what I can do, does anyone out there have any suggestions?

The buck stops here.