I have been trying to start writing since the past two hours but it is not easy. I had originally started yesterday evening mentioning an overcast Bangalore the whole day and the gloominess it brought upon me, adding to my melancholy of the past few days. I would have ranted about the new Grey template on my blog that sort of counteracted the grey skies by totally engrossing me in the various widgets where I got deep into css, javascript, and HTML to tweak the widgets according to my taste.

But things are quite different now. Today was overcast again and was dripping the entire day, the only thing that reminds of the 64 lives claimed (till the time of writing) in Tamil Nadu by Cyclone Nisha, a news subdued by the live coverage of terrorism in Mumbai since the past 24 hours. The war going on between creators of terror and NSG, RAF, Black Cats, and Mumbai Police at three sites in Mumbai has made the entire nation edgy. The grey moods and my kvetches are not even a drop against the oceans of depression and gloom brought in by the largest-ever terrorist attack on India and her populace.

The use of AK-47s and other automatic weapons did really create more mayhem and terror than bombs, which have anyways kept blowing intermittently. Firings could be heard throughout. The Indian financial capital has come to a standstill. Friends in Mumbai told me every Mumbaikar was afraid to go out today, nobody was sure whether they would come back. At times like these you feel very vulnerable and helpless. You don't know whether to cry over it or to blame the authorities for not having taken enough measures to foresee and prevent such acts of terror.

The entire sequence of events looks straight out from a Hollywood action movie, but the entire world is shaken. But that also depicts how cheap a human life is, an Indian's all the more. One 9/11 happened, and the US screwed up the entire world. Let us see what the Indian offices of power do. By evening the number of miscreants was decreasing, and various ministers could be seen on TV. Hostages who were spared the gun were being evacuated to safer places. The war is still on, and I know the armies and the forces will win; not reaching back alive would sure have been a part of the intricate plan the terrorists would have drafted.

The media has been sickening and overkilling, with all news channels removing everything else off the screens; even the tickers that keep shouting of Breaking News are all occupied by this horrendous incident. However, the media is the reason we know the exact picture out there and have so strong sentiments against both the terrorists and the lawmakers. Switching off news streams and delegating to the corrupt ministers won’t help. We need to do something proactive, starting from the root level. We need drastic reforms in our society and constitution and law and order. Don’t ask me where to begin; I don’t have an answer, we’ll have to find one.

PS: Rediff has a live commentary here on the ongoing war.