Our country has always been the ground for atrocities. We have accepted it, have become immune to it. We call ourselves resilient. Yes we do recover, but weaker and distorted; resilience has become shameful more than a matter of pride.
Be it the Mughals or the British, the Dutch or the Portuguese, India and Indians have been razed and ruined time and again. We’ve always been easy prey to devouring vultures. World history is replete with gory stories of Hitler but few other than historians and people who have lived that era know about Churchill and his obliteration of races, an abominable rapist who not just snatched every ornament from the beauty of our homeland but defiled it mercilessly and left it there – mutilated, burnt, broken, dying.
And today, as I watch the television in this lockdown, another equally inhuman event comes to mind – the Jallianwala Baug massacre.
On Sunday, 13 April 1919, Acting Brigadier-General Reginald Dyer, convinced a major insurrection could take place, banned all meetings. This notice was not widely disseminated, and many villagers gathered in the Bagh to celebrate the important Indian festival of Baisakhi, and peacefully protest the arrest and deportation of two national leaders, Satyapal and Saifuddin Kitchlew. Dyer and his troops entered the garden, blocking the main entrance behind them, took up position on a raised bank, and with no warning opened fire on the crowd for about ten minutes, directing their bullets largely towards the few open gates through which people were trying to flee, until the ammunition supply was almost exhausted. The following day Dyer stated in a report that "I hear that between 200 and 300 of the crowd were killed. My party fired 1,650 rounds". – Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jallianwala_Bagh_massacre#Before_the_massacre
The audacity, the shamelessness, the inhumanity!
But they were others, not countrymen; these monsters. Centuries have passed, power has shifted hands but have things changed? Do we need Dyers and Churchills anymore? No, we have our own power hungry, intelligence devoid, indifferent special squad.
I’m sure you would have watched these on television many times, but take a few seconds to watch them again before you read further.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-852f1PXBo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jq0tj5IYhL4
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha
Don’t hold it back – let go as you witness the biggest Corona virus immunity test that’s been happening in Mumbai, the financial capital of India over the last few days? Hordes of migrants being stuffed in tempos, buses; thousands lined up outside railway stations flaunting the best examples of social distancing – I can see the Corona virus grinning! Thousands of BEST buses stand unused in the bus-depots, probably cringing to help but they can’t; they need permission. The elderly, children and everyone else have been invited to the circus. Hungry, poorer, unemployed, they stand there in hope, like sheep, herded, probably to death, probably to freedom. And all they want is to go home and be with their families. Some will get on a train, some will wait, and others will be forced to leave in the hope to come back the next day. Virus carriers? Who cares?
A perfectly organized and managed circus; acrobats falling from their swings to their deaths, the skilled knife thrower not missing his mark and killing the girl with a knife right between her eyes, the lion chomping on the trainer’s bones – its salivating teeth red, the joker laughing but not the audience.
Ghalib had said:
ye ishq nahin asan itna hi samjh liije
ik aag ka dariya hai aur duubke jaana hai
That’s a thing of the past Ghalib miya; let’s make it relevant to the present.
Ye ghar jaana nahi asan itna hi samjh liije
Corona aur politics ka dariya hai aur duubke jaana hai
If not a massacre, what is this?
Picture copyrights:
© https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/chaos-at-stations-maharashtra-calls-out-railways-for-cover-up-job/article31682538.ece
© https://www.thequint.com/news/india/migrants-stranded-at-mumbai-bus-depot-as-centre-and-state-spar-over-shramik-trains
Jallianwala Baug massacre picture - © https://scroll.in/article/806572/bloodbath-on-baisakhi-the-jallianwala-bagh-massacre-april-13-1919
I wish I felt the way you feel. I know it's shameful but like many out there I am in some ways glad that it is not happening to me.... I am not there yet. I have a shade brighter tomorrow. I am too scared to imagine me in their position. Selfish... Yes. Ashamed... Yes.
ReplyDeleteGlad you at least wrote about it.
You got it man .. this is what the reality is and you can't runaway from it. We just ignore and take all the things to granted. Bas chup rehna hai aur sehte jaana hai .. very well written, need big heart though.
ReplyDeleteI am usually a highly optimistic person, but the grim reality and the poignance of your writing has stomped on my optimism as mercilessly as those 1650 rounds of bullets.
ReplyDeleteHave been reading ‘A brief history of nearly everything’ and the author mentions several times that we are living precariously at the edge of life, mother nature can annihilate us anytime without any warning. I pray that day comes sooner than these power hungry monsters eat our souls inside out. Amen!
Agree! They are murderers to let this happen. They all really need to be punished! It started too late and is so badly managed. The mis information and propaganda are mind boggling! Just heart breaking.
ReplyDeleteIf words were daggers, we'd be dead right now! So well penned - to melt even a heart of stone.
ReplyDeleteIf only the right ones read!
Thank you IamwhatIam, Maverick, Girish and Michelle for your comments.
ReplyDeleteIamwhatIam - We are all sailing in the same boat. By the time some action is thought about, the damage is already done!
Girish - I'll stop writing if you stop being optimistic. The world needs more optimistic people like you.
And Michelle - True indeed!
Anonymous - Thank you. There are hearts of stones and they don't melt! :)