TERRORISTAN OR HINDUSTAN?
In the recent past, names of many cities like Bombay ,Bangalore, Madras have been changed to Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, etc. What if it hits a nation? What if this trend continues and Hindustan changes to Terroristan? Scary! But, in the light of the recent events, it seems to present a picture of reality. India has had a series of terrorist attacks and far from lessening, they seem to be increasing in number.Terrorism has been described as both a tactic and a strategy; a crime and a holy obligation; a warranted reaction to coercion and an unpardonable massacre. However, it is something that has to be wiped out.

India has seen many scenes of terrorism in the last few months, be it the bomb blasts in Delhi and Bengaluru or the current siege that started off as a shootout in Mumbai that has become something of a nightmare not only to Mumbaikars, but also to thousands around the globe. It is said that one often learns from past mistakes and blunders. Have we though? The government adopts a holier than thou attitude and says that they are doing everything in their power to vanquish the aiding and abetting of terrorism. But are they? The only efforts that are being taken are to increase their bank balance and to criticize epical names and denounce Hindu religious practices that have been in existence since even before the critic himself.

Previously, a terrorist was considered to have an extremely clichéd description of a scary looking person with a long beard and a mustache and probably a few scars across his face with scary, cold eyes, devoid of humane emotions and filled with cruelty. Yes, often, even harmless people who fitted this description were looked upon as terrorists and many times, it actually turned out to be a case of mistaken identity. Talking about mistaken identities, imagine this scene :
A young boy, probably either still in college or fresh out of college, well dressed with branded clothes, a branded satchel , clean shaven, well groomed, quite suave, looking like he’s out on a vacation, enjoying his time off at a hotel. There’s a bomb blast or a shootout. Thousands of people die and one happens to survive though, by any stretch of imagination he doesn‘t deserve to. The survivor is the attacker- the very same young man with the appearance of a college going teen. What can we call it now? World leaders condemn terrorist attacks. Government condemns the terrorist attacks. They feign sympathy, tut-tut away in what they think is a supposedly sympathetic manner and offer their condolences and perhaps money in return for their loss to the members of the dead families. Promises are made to take a stand against further terrorist attacks by the government but, promises of course are meant to be broken and the government has justified this!

‘’England cricket team calls off tour,
Terrorists strike Mumbai- 101 dead, 250 hurt,
6 foreigners killed in Mumbai blasts,
World leaders condemn terror attacks.’’
It was indeed unnerving to see a series of headlines being flashed incessantly on the news in this regard. It jolts us back to the nasty and harsh reality, brings us out of our reverie as to what we are going through. Yesterday Delhi, today Mumbai. Tomorrow - the World? This reminds us of the frightening fact that the future is indeed extremely bleak. The air is wrought with fright and tension. As part of the people that live in this world, we do deserve a sense of security.

This is our country. More importantly, this is our world. Keeping this in mind, the responsibility to protect, nourish and caress this world is also ours. Whether Hindustan remains Hindustan or changes to Terroristan, only time can tell.

TABLET TRIBULATIONS
Tick tock, tick, tock…. Time was ticking away, louder than ever.. I stared at my left hand and then at my right, back and forth, back and forth, as though I was in the process of getting hypnotized by the hypnotizer’s magic charm. I stared down at both my hands long and hard. I shuddered when I saw that nasty, red, oblong monster staring right back at me- it was blood red and did little to nullify the mounting trepidation and misgivings that had been gnawing my insides for the last three quarters of an hour. Every time my hand went towards my mouth, my mind did not cooperate and every time my mind cooperated, my hands did not.

My mind kept telling me ‘’consume that red monster and end it all. It is the quickest way to end that unpleasant thing that has caused your throat to become parched, your head to make you feel as though a few hundred men are hammering away its insides, the only way to stop your eyes from burning as though on fire, the only way to end all the pain and torment.’’ Even as my mind instructed me in almost firm, sergeant like tones, my hand simply would not oblige. My mouth twitched, my hands gave away and my jaw trembled violently on seeing that little red monster lying in the close of my palm, almost leering at me, as though aware of its impact on my irresolute, ever changing mind.

The last time I had been in this state, I had tried to make myself feel better, end all unpleasantries… and then, I had chickened out completely. It had become almost suicidal ; I had gagged, choked, coughed, come close to asphyxiation and then realized for a wee, microscopic moment that I was too young to suffer so much and had escaped from the suffocating clutches of the evil, red, one.

Today, it was déjà vu all over again and I was back to staring at it in reverence that can be evoked only out of sheer fright. Time was flying by. It was now or never. I had to do it at some point in the near future, which meant, pronto. So, I braved myself, told myself that I could do it, looked skywards, praying to the gods(so much for self encouragement… !!). I looked down at my hand for a final time, threw my head back, popped the little monster into my mouth, and emptied the can(yes, the huge one) of water into my mouth. I retched, I choked, but finally, …. Yesss, I had managed to defeat the enemy. I swallowed little more water (about another galleon or so) and sat down to savor my triumph over the evil one.

Ahh, the tribulations that can be caused by a common cold curing capsule, to a person who, after almost 19 years on this exalted earth, still hasn’t managed to master the art of consuming them!!!!

P.S. : I would like to thank a certain Mr.P whose narration of a particular incident inspired this article . :)