‘Terrorists do not come only in boats. They also come asking for votes’: I received this forward yesterday. But let me elaborate it a bit more. Terrorists also come in different shapes and sizes.

Religion no bar, caste no bar, status no bar and gender no bar. However, they attack only the common man. Even though the quote seems purely topical and might soon prove nonsensical, I’ve decided to store it in my mental quote bank.

For right now it seems to be a desperate cry of the silent majority. We are aware that these kinds of species thrive on the fuel of publicity.

And who better to fan that fire than the bending, crawling media. And of course the hate factories that continue to churn out lies after lies. Just to keep the embers glowing.

It doesn’t take a genius to figure out the superfluous political drama going on. I can’t even pretend to imagine what the families of all the lives lost in the recent natural and man-made tragedies must be going through.

So all that spirit of ‘sab changa si’ can go take a hike. After every tragedy we cannot pretend to don our famous ‘chalta hai’ robes and assume normalcy in our lives.

Each citizen, irrespective of whether or not they have lost a child, a parent, a friend or a relation and irrespective of their geographical locations, should take out some time.

To grieve. To feel violated. To feel angry. And to make a national resolve to combat terrorism of all kinds. The physical, the emotional, the mental. And the political.

There should be absolutely no place in our lives at a period like this, to start our famous blame game. That in any case is the prerogative of our leaders.

It's a shame that even before the embers of one fire die down, another begins. Even as the displaced are still battling with their lives, being treated like refugees in their own country, elsewhere leaders are busy scoring political points.

Even as some warriors are proving as graceful advertisements for our nation, some are busy demonstrating themselves as hoardings of disgrace.

It is said that when your heart is on fire, smoke gets in your eyes. But of course my vision is very clear and yet whenever I’m confronted with the news on social media, it feels like a condensed replay of what India would have gone through all these centuries.

A country, seeped in glorious traditions, rooted in rituals. Raided. Invaded. Plundered. Ravaged. And yet withstanding all that and more.

Maybe the dust will settle. Maybe everything will be back to normal. Maybe everything will be rebuilt. Just like our nation was.

But this construction will be on the foundation of innocent souls. Cemented with distrust and layered with the bricks of painful memories, if we get through it all, the building will stand like a symbol of resilience.

Who says terrorism has no religion? It has. Just like every other believer’s act of faith has an innate spirit, the terrorists' every deed of dedication has an inbuilt sensationalism.

If some believe in God, these not so misguided souls believe in the Devil. If some believe in Good, these cold- blooded fanatics believe in Evil. Their ideologies are hollow. They are irrational. Mindless. Senseless. Unfounded. As for their philosophy- well, all I can say is that it is different. Radically different!

We have to realise once and for all that the face of a country is not that of the Parliament’s alone. It is the face of every ordinary citizen.

Therefore if we know that vote bank politics is a sure shot recipe for national disaster, we should also know better than to carry on depending on our leaders. Instead we have to make our own menus, where we have stability, not fear. Peace, not chaos. Love, not hate. Tolerance, not discrimination. Fairness, not hypocrisy.

If we know the tragic toll that this kind of terrorism takes, we should also be willing to forsake some of our liberties and our hateful ideologies.

If we know that it is nearly impossible for us to face a determined group of powerful wolves in sheep’s clothing that feed hate, we should also be willing to go through the fuss and fiddle to change our ideologies and combat it with love.

If we know that Frankenstein’s political monsters are on the loose, we should also be willing NOT to weaken the hands of the law so as to indirectly strengthen their hideous trigger- happy hands.

And if we do not agree to all of the above, then I’m afraid we have to live with the fact that the powerful are always cushioned and it is only the weak and the vulnerable that will bear the brunt of all shocks. The ‘Kings’ will never change, because their DNA doesn’t allow them to.

Therefore it becomes imperative for the ‘Subjects’ to think of a plan. And for that plan to work, we have to become the marble AND the sculptor. We have to carve out our thoughts and chisel our minds to put our nationality first. Much before all our political, occupational or religious differences.

Cover Photograph: Banksy’s Flower Thrower

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