A week ago was the 8 year anniversary of the single most scariest thing I have lived through. It’s funny but I never realised how little people back home talk about it. It’s almost as if it never happened. Or didn’t happen the way I remember it at least. I’d been meaning to do this on the anniversary (28 February) but I wasn’t on my computer and I decided to postpone it for a week. And here I am now, doing something which still is a little difficult.
The fact remains, those three days were a turning point of my life and how much ever pride I take in my nation today, how much Ahmedabad remains home to me, the place where I grew up, I will never forget what happened. I will never forget the harsh words I heard, the disturbing (and yet I was lucky) images I saw, the giddy thoughts in my head. I remember a year ago I made a note on Facebook where I included a point about how there was a moment in my life when I thought I would die. It was then. Imagine looking down a stairwell convinced that a mob would come rushing up those very stairs with the sole intention of killing you. It’s not very pretty. And still, I was lucky.
This is not even a political tirade, although I am very much capable of that. It’s just that looking through memoirs of victims, and faced with the silence of my fellow countrymen, a few acquaintances and friends included, just provoked me enough to write a simple post for all the victims, regardless of their religion. Modern India is as cruel as it is beautiful sometimes. And how much ever people want to overlook this “incident,” debate about even the term to describe the violence, bury and forget it, it still strikes vivid in my mind.
For all the people affected by this ghastly riot, I strike a prayer with you and I remember your grievances. Because some things should not be forgotten.
In case anyone is interested, this is one of the few buried videos on youtube (with flame wars in progress in some cases.) Some images are harsh so watch at your own risk.
