A mail from an indian

From: vinay
Sent: Saturday, July 15, 2006 7:50 AM
Subject: please read it

I am an Indian citizen. One among 1 billion of us. When somebody bombs us we die. Just like Americans did when the Al Qaeeda drove their planes into the WTC. Just like Londoners did when terrorists attacked the city last July. But while Americans have the right to retaliate and bomb Afghanistan off the face of the map because the terrorists HQ was based there, we Indians have to negotiate, talk, send peace buses, and "build confidence" with the government across our border - the Pakistanis who are supporting the terrorists with money and explosives.
The world applauds how resilient we are in the face of our tragedy, how quickly we go back to "normalcy". Ironically we ourselves applaud our resilience. The fact is that the world expects us to be less than human - hey you fella, so what if you lost your colleague, friend, partner, husband, wife or brother, get on with it old chap, that's it my boy! No time to mourn. No time to fume and rail at the injustice being meted out, no time to even call the terrorists the filthiest of names, no time to give incompetent politicians and policemen, intelligence agencies and the powers-be a piece of our mind. (Shivraj Patil, our honourable defence minister said something to the the effect that we knew that an attack was planned but we didn't know the time and place. Really! What did he expect - a phone call from the terrorists giving him the details of the local trains, timings and compartments in which the explosives would be kept!)
We also have to prove to the world that we are RESILIENT. Be happy with Musharraf's "quick condemnation" and go back to the business of dealing with old betrayers. After all we cannot "change the region's positive course", as LA Times' editorial put it. So what if a few hundred Indians die - Indians who are not into big time negotiations. Indians who just want to earn their living and return home to their families after a hard day's work. But well no, Musharraf and his terrorist friends will deny them the luxury of going back to his family because en route the train blows up! And our incompetent politicians and policemen will let terrorists do their horrific jobs and launch a hunt post-facto...
So Bombayites died for a cause: for the peace of the region! As did Delhi-ites last year before Diwali. As did people in Bangalore when Pakistan-supported terrorists hit the city. As did Indian tourists who had gone to Srinagar for a holiday....And as will many many more will die...Wow, that's some consolation!
If you feel as angry about what's happening to us, please feel free to pass this on. If your reaction is: "hey nothing is going to change - this is India," feel free to delete the mail!

Regards
Vinay K Nooji
Design Engineer

A letter from Bombay !

Dear Terrorist,

Even if you are not reading this we don't care. Time and again you tried to disturb us and disrupt our life - killing innocent civilians by planting bombs in trains, buses and cars. You have tried hard to bring death and destruction, cause panic and fear and create communal disharmony but everytime you were disgustingly unsuccessful. Do you know how we pass our life in Mumbai? How much it takes for us to earn that single rupee? If you wanted to give us a shock then we are sorry to say that you failed miserably in your ulterior motives. Better look elsewere, not here.

We are not Hindus and Muslims or Gujaratis and Marathis or Punjabis and Bengaliies. Nor do we distinguish ourselves as owners or workers, govt. employees or private employees. WE ARE MUMBAIKERS (Bombay-ites, if you like). We will not allow you to disrupt our life like this. On the last few occassions when you struck (including the 7 deadly blasts in a single day killing over 250 people and injuring 500+ in 1993), we went to work next day in full strength. This time we cleared everything within a few hours and were back to normal - the vendors placing their next order, businessmen finalizing the next deals and the office workers rushing to catch the next train. (Yes the same train you targetted)

Fathom this: Within 3 hours of the blasts, long queues of blood donating volunteers were seen outside various hospital, where most of the injured were admitted. By 12 midnight, the hospital had to issue a notification that blood banks were full and they didn't require any more blood. The next day, attendance at schools and office was close to 100%, trains & buses were packed to the brim, the crowds were back.
The city has simply dusted itself off and moved on - perhaps with greater vigour.

We are Mumbaikers and we live like brothers in times like this. So, do not dare to threaten us with your crackers. The spirit of Mumbai is very strong and can not be harmed.

Please forward this to others. U never know, by chance it may come to hands of a terrorist in Afghanistan, Pakistan or Iraq and he can then read this message which is specially meant for him!!!

With Love,
From the people of Mumbai (Bombay)

Worth Reading...

I am sure this applies to many of us.... A group of alumni, highly established in their careers, got together to visit their old university professor. Conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in work and life. Offering his guests coffee, the professor went to the kitchen and returned with a large pot of coffee and an assortment of cups - porcelain, plastic, glass, crystal, some plain looking, some expensive, some exquisite - telling them to help themselves to hot coffee. When all the students had a cup of coffee in hand, the professor said: "If you noticed, all the nice looking expensive cups were taken up, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. It is, but normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress. What all of you really wanted was coffee, not the cup, but you consciously went for the best cups and were eyeing each other's cups. Now if life is coffee, then the jobs, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold Life, but the quality of Life doesn't change. Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee in it." So, don't let the cups drive you... enjoy the coffee instead.