5. Terrorism with the capital T - I

POST TYPE : Thought-------------MOOD : Have No Idea
LISTENING TO -> Green Day - Boulevard Of Broken Dreams

Yesterday's blasts in Malegaon, near Nasik, Maharashtra.

Usually, it would just be another event, another 38 people dead, all without a well-defined crime or perpretrator in sight.

We have even managed to accord terror crimes a special place in our minds...Somehow, 'Terrorism' doesn't quite roll off the tongue like 'muurrr-der' or 'rrraype' (I know , I overdo that pronunciation part...lol put it in the comments anyway if u feel like it)..None of the contempt or hint of disgust, as when these words bounce out our mouths..almost spat out of us, as if that action rids us of the tendency to have the same insanity and urges that cause these crimes. But no...'Terrorism' is in fact said with as much awe and silent ambience as the word 'God' itself...which incidentally, is the reason for the success of the terrorist method. Look at me, for instance...There's something that makes me want to write the word with a capital T, almost like we write His name with a capital letter.

The Mumbai blasts came when everyone had their eyes trained on Kashmir and peace talks, the last Mumbai blasts were in 1993...and that was history already, wasn't it?

This one came when everybody had their eyes trained on Mumbai, and especially BARC, the place where I live. Now we're thinking...Nasik? Malegaon? Now where ARE these places on a terror-map? All that detailed news analysis of "The Terrorist Mind" and 'probable-next-hits' got nowhere near this. The place has a high Muslim proportion in its population, and quite a history of communal feuds. So? I'm still not quite clear. There are a couple of conspiracy theories knocking outside my mind-door...But I have no facts, my dear Watson.

Maybe it was something that would've happened anyway, irrespective of the red and orange alerts.
Maybe it was made to happen out of turn, to throw the explosive-detector scents off the trail.
Maybe it is what we suspect it to be.

THAT is how Terror works the mind. The book "Conversations with God" talks of Love and Fear being "sponsoring emotions"...they indirectly lead to every other emotion...Just think about it - Jealousy for example, is "Fear of losing someone you Love, to someone they Love". Terror takes a lot of both...though, in literal translation..its just Fear. Now I'm starting to see why I capitalize the first letter of the word.

Terrorism works by taking apart some of the most basic tenets we have assumed about the human mind. Such as the desire to live. The spirit with which these crimes are carried out has been the Holy Grail of spirituals and religions, the world over. The concept of complete dedication to the task at hand...the essence of meditation and the sense of devotion.
Which is also why we Fear it, are awed by its method. Ofcourse deep beneath the surface...a terrorist is in most probability, someone who seeks to 'reclaim' his life from his 'sins'...with a single act of self-sacrifice..who has turned to religion, instead of God, to find purpose...his desire is commendable, but the path goes awry grows in nations where ambition, making it big in life...being successful, don't come with the general agenda. Nations where even enough money can't buy your freedom from the society that rules you.

A terrorist is primarily concerned with the death of his targets...He has no fixed number, he only seeks to maximise his kill...and his own death does not just add 1 to the body count, he believes his death takes him to salvation. The ones that don't die...on the other hand, are making millions off the mass-murdering business. But the terrorist we've learnt to loathe, but in a way, also respect...is the one who blows himself up in the streets of Iraq and Kashmir and Bali.

People who saw RangDeBasanti would identify the mental state I'm talking about. Nothing except the goal matters. The torchbearer is simply a device...the torch is paramount. And that state of mind, far as I am from it, not resilience, not numbness, is patriotism.

I think I've answered my first critical comment. :) right Archana?


LISTENING TO -> Rang De Basanti - Khoon Chala