To start a blog - my blog - on such a sorrow and shocking note is what I never ever imagined. Nah... not even in my wildest dreams.. I have always wanted a good start, for anything. But the saga unfolding here and now.. just cannot sit idle and behave like its happening in some timbuktoo.. The blatancy and the raw power with which these inhumane crimes are perpetrated leaves me grappling for emotions and words to express. Mumbai. The romantic and the rough.. The geek and the artist... The middle class of India... The bollywood and the business... The shady and the shining... Mumbai. Always strong. Always sustaining. Finally broke. Looks like the terror groups concerted all their efforts in shattering Mumbai. Maybe they feel that the fall of Mumbai heralds the start of destruction of the rest of the country...as if Mumbai is the backbone of India. Time and again, they tried. The city is witness to almost 8 major terror attacks in the last 7 years... killing over 500 and still counting... But every time, the city sprang up immediately, shook itself off the horrors and continued with life as before. Not now. Mumbai wears a desolate scared look. They succeeded to a certain extent, those fidayeens. After all, how many times can one call the spirit of the city to balm the scars of such horrors. Enough. The stories you hear from the witnesses, the gunshots to which the city wakes up, the scores lying dead for no mistake of theirs, all of this wrenches my heart. Just look at what they have done...!! For every person they have killed, thay have taken a family down with the death... My prayers for the brave hearts who have sacrificied their lives, the godly souls who put their lives before their customers', the many innocent civilians - R.I.P; to the the ones ambushed, hurt, traumatized and barely alive, the families of the affected and all mumbaikars - May god give you the strength and heart to pull yourselves together and fight back in these difficult times. I will count you all in my prayers today, for your safety and well-being.

But when and where will this mad murder end? Should this be blamed on the failure of intelligence agencies..? Should we point our fingers at the perpetrators and the ones supporting them? Should we blame the inefficient corrupt system? Should we blame the casual its-ok-i-dont-care attitude of Indians? Or should we blame the city itself for being like how it is..? What we are seeing is no longer a religious fanaticism. It is deeper than that.. It seems to be an insatiable hunger for power, for attention, for mindless destruction. Its time to act. No more words and promises. We need to act and root out this problem plaguing our rich, vibrant and beautiful country. Lets put all the elaborate political dramas aside.. Join forces, maybe with people across the border. Cleanse the system from within. Become an informed citizen. Be change you want to see... Then, we fight. Maybe this sound too rhetoric, but am hoping that we Indians will some day realize what needs to be done. The power is with us.. We need to push the governments to act. We cannot let a bunch of crackpots run wildly on the streets, wielding guns and shooting for the heck of it.. I need your help. Think about it.. and let me know what are all the things we can do on our part to ensure that we don't land in such situations again... After all, like Ratan Tata said, Haven't we / Shouldn't we learn anything from the past.??