Food for thought from my daughter

Jaya Smitha Menon

Associate Editor ...

It sounds ridiculous. To evoke fear and submission they resort to gross violence. You guessed it right am talking about the terrorist attacks. After serial blasts in Bangalore, Ahmadabad and Mumbai now it is serial firing that has rocked Mumbai, As I was going through the rediff reports on the serial blasts, I could easily visualize the fear and shock in the minds of the victims and the onloookers.

I experienced a similar shock, when Bangalore which was relatively free of the terror plots became a victim of serial blasts. On July 25^th when the news of serial bomb blast came in, I was in my desk, busy with work. All I had in my mind was deadline and delivery. But when the news came in I stood shocked for seconds. Madiwala was the place where my daugher’s crèche is located and Mysore Road was where my brother was at that time to check his admission in Visveswaraya College. That was followed by frantic calls and enquiries to ensure their safety. It took another 2 hours for all of us to come together and till then I had sent umpteen number of prayers above, praying for our safety.

Till then I lived in the world of deadlines and deliveries. Those were realities to me. I hear about blasts and violence and diligently condemn them. But it never ruled my mind and it died probably much before its news value. But not anymore. Today, every single day I drop my daughter in the crèche, my heart misses a beat when I think –What if something goes wrong today? Now I check news sites and channels at regular intervals not with the curiosity of a journalist but with the anxiety of a mother.

Between January 2004 and March 2007 the death toll from terrorist attacks in India was 3,674, second only to Iraq during the same period, according to the National Counterterrorism Center in Washington. The exact death toll of the serial firing which still continues is yet to be verified.

The attacks will certainly affect tourism, which climbed 10 percent in the first nine months of the year to 3.87 million visitors, generating $8.8 billion in revenue, according to government figures. Foreign direct investment into the country more than doubled between April and August to $14.6 billion.

Yesterday, as me and my husband were seriously discussing the serial firing amidst watching the stories appearing in the news channels, my 3 year old daughter came to me and asked what is it all happening in TV. To make sense to the three year old I told her some men who were not good at heart killed others with gun. She kept quiet and sat watching the proceedings in the television. After some time she came to me and asked “Mama, if I hit my friend in school you tell me we should not hurt anybody and even scold me. Why that uncle’s mother never tells him not to shoot anyone and hurt anyone?” . We did not have an answer. Till then we were discussing about how India’s intelligence beurue should be more alert and we should tighten up security at all important places, how tourism will be affected and what not.

But she underlined one single point which probably is the most important one in today’s scenario. If every parent/ guardian takes the characterisation of the child as one of the most important thing in their life, probably we will have better hopes from the next generation. We should not forget we belong to the country where one man with his silence and ahimsa, turned the whole world to him and brought freedom to the country after 100 years of slavery.

Well my daughter defenitely gave me food for thought!