Disbelief(my first reaction to what happened in Mumbai), immediately followed by shock, anger, pain and finally, fear.

Let's start from the beginning. I'm a Delhite. I've never been to Mumbai. Ever. clubbed along with a love for wide roads,open spaces and some margin of cleanliness, and, a genetic dislike for the smell of sea food, rotting garbage and a hundred bodies stacked together in a train compartment, i have blissfully led a charmed life believing in the spirit of my city and looking at the rival with a baleful eye.

Not any more.

I felt more like a Mumbaikar than I've ever felt like a Delhite when i watched one of India's greatest cities fall victim to a handful of religious zealots. It was the most sobering and panic inducing incident I've ever witnessed. The sense of helplessness was overwhelming as i witnessed scene after scene of mindless, bloody killings across different locations in Mumbai. I think i cried every single time i saw the Images Of The Taj being put to fire(and believe me, i saw pictures of The Taj for the first time on 11/26). it was like watching your history being tortured and then set to fire.

This massacre set me thinking about how clueless, inept and frankly apathetic our government is. They had to call in all the three forces to tackle the situation and by then, hundreds were already dead. To top it all, Mumbai police lost three of it's best officers simply because their government had not equipped them with the tools required to fight such an attack. what kind of a government sends it own people to their sure shot deaths while the politicians sit on their fat,over stuffed couches and siphon off money(meant for the same organizations who fight for us) to Swiss bank accounts?? What kind of officials can brush off such a barbaric act by saying such things happen in big cities?? WHAT KIND OF PEOPLE ELECT SUCH RIDICULOUSLY CORRUPT/INEPT/ASININE POLITICIANS TO RULE???

It's a systematic failure of a pointless democracy. We don't cherish our freedom. We don't respect the forces which fight tooth and nail to keep us alive. We question the integrity of those officers who have had the bad fortune of cornering a Hindu extremist. We abuse the power of expression in the most vicious means possible.

So finally, Terror reigned supreme.

Are we actually shocked that this happened to us ? Is it that unexpected ? Or are we again passing the buck ?