Miles to go..

Definitions

Wonderland – The place where Lewis Carole’s Alice fell into, and experienced lots of wonders.

Neverland – The place where kids never grow up and remain kids till the world ends. The leader of Neverland is Peter Pan.

Already these two worlds are like opposite poles on earth. So, what happens when a person from Neverland goes to Wonder land?

Since neverland is kid’s world, there are torches lit everywhere in the night so that kids  never loose  their way. These torch lighting is very important responsibility, and the people doing it were considered to be the inevitable VIP neverlanders. Let us call them Lighters.

One such Lighter went to wonderland for a visit.

“Wow!! This is a beautiful place.”

“Wow!! These people are really sweet, this is like  heaven. I could live here forever. After all, who wants to live in the stupid neverland? It has only forests, animals and pirates.”

“Wish neverlanders learnt everything from these people”

“Oops, do you mean to say, that hole had two buildings in it? Impossible!! Who would ever want to destroy Wonderland? It is such a heaven on earth. ”

“I wish I had these wonders in neverland too. But it will never happen :-( Those neverlanders never grow up (I guess, I am growing up after reaching wonderland).”

“Sigh!! Sad that I have to return. Let me collect all the candies and chocolates from here. The food in neverland doesn’t taste good. Once again, I wish I could stay back”

“They poked my bag!! They  poked my bag saying I am a pirate since I am from neverland!! They poked me!! This is the Hell on earth and these people are demons. This is no wonderland!! People of neverland, save me!!”

At Neverland

“They really scared one of us?”

“This is really a shame. Nobody has the right to insult a neverlander”

“We should poke them too. Who are they to judge we are pirates? Get the pokers ready. From today on, we will be poking every wonderlander coming here, till we are satisfied”

“Yes, let us go to Peter Pan and request him to inaugurate it”

Peter Pan

“Whats the matter?”

“Somebody from wonderland poked a neverlander”

“Poked?”

“Err- poked his bag”

“Why?”

“They thought he is a pirate“

“Why?”

“Because, his name is Jack. (Similar to Jack Sparrow)”

“Jack Sparrow is not a neverlander. He is pirate of the Caribbian”

“Yea, these wonderlanders could have checked that easily!!”

“So, what do you think we should be doing?”

“Peter Pan, we should poke them back!!”

“Should we really?”

“Don’t you see? They just— They just insulted one of our Lighters!!”

“Okay, Go and poke them back. But one warning: the moment you start doing it, you will grow up and will never be a kid again”

“But—- What— Why–”

“See, you are a neverlander, because you are fair in your judgments. That is how  you maintain  your childhood. The moment you loose the fair judgment, and start acting like a wonderlander, you grow up. You know, growing up is demonizing yourself. Moreover, we have our own threats to deal with, like the Pirates. Let us find ways to deal with them first, which we haven’t.”

“Yes, Peter Pan, you are right”

********

“Nasra, are you sleeping?”

“No, I was blogging. Just completed typing. I will send the link to you right now.”

Oops!! The blog composer still has only the title – “Questioning a Bollywood V.I.P. Named Khan”. Weird!!

**********************

PS : No intention of glorifying one nation or degrading another, simplifying one topic or complicating it. The words came out of the scary thought of being eyed with suspicion, being discriminated, or being alienated at another part of the world. Comics help reduce the fear.

For the past 7 hours, we are in front of the computer, switching between ibnlive.com and ndtv.com, occasionally browsing Times of India and New York Times, listening to the live reports from Mumbai. What happened was indeed something scary and a very disturbing fact that a bunch of intelligent terrorists have landed upon us. A bunch, who knew the power of divide-and-rule policy, a bunch who scattered the whole city with multiple attacks, a bunch who knew whom to take hostage, by attacking the elite places.

I can go on and brag about the technology advancement we have which empowers me with the news from across the globe, live. But, right now I am angry and scared. The same technology can bargain the lives in an entire city, if used foolishly.  Listening to each update given by the reporters, I am more scared. If I, an insignificant citizen sitting in US get this live piece of update now, doesn’t it also go to all those villains out there who planned and executed this terrible attack?

I don’t think what all things I have heard so far. So many reports, and the mind doesn’t register all of it. Still, it went like this.

“The NSG is about to arrive in 1 hour”

“The NSG has arrived and they have started operations”

“I am hearing gun shots, ofcourse something is happening.”

“Looks like the operation at Oberoi is nearing an end”..

I even saw the positioning of the NSG commandos through live cams. I heard about the replenishment of force. I heard about the army and navy joining hands..

NSG has specifically instructed the media not to discuss the strategy. All the reporters use it as their starting statement and then move onto blurt out whatever they wanted to, zooming their camera to all directions of their choice. Only one person dealt with it in the true sensible way. Its Rajdeep Sardesai of CNN-IBN, who was reporting from outside Hotel Taj . Whoever it is, he is the true citizen of India. May be, his age made him take wise decisions.

I am scared of each minute. I am scared of a moment, where some stupid reporter blurts out that one of the missions (out of many for the day) is accomplished. I am scared, that will be the end of all other hostages. Its high time media redefine their social commitment, instead of sensationalizing their surroundings at the cost of others’ lives.

At this point, my thought is: Do we really need extensive live coverages EVERYWHERE? When is the media going to distinguish between a cricket match and a war against terrorism?

My friends, do you have an answer?

They are also doing so many good things. I see flash news requesting for blood in Mumbai hospitals, I see helpline numbers from Taj and Oberoi hotels, and a lot more.. All these helps should not be clouded by the “extreme reporting” due to media competition.

I hate advertisements. Still, I wouldn’t mind watching advertisements, rather than knowing that the information I hear may be deadly to hundreds of lives and will be favorable to a handful of villains. I am sure every sensible Indian would think the same. Dear channels, please put some advertisements for us till you get solid result from Mumbai.

“Na bruyal, sathyam apriyam” – Don’t say truth, if it hurts others.

Keeping my fingers crossed, for the success of great India and its harmony, defeating all the villains out there.