The blasts..

It has happened once again...It had in the past..and now a repeat..for many it was a deja vu...For all those who've lived through the serial blasts in '93..all those who survived the floods on 26/7....This was a repeat...a chill that run through their veins...bringing back home the point that they weren't that mighty after all...

The ones dead at the end of a tragedy were still the luckier ones..For the rest have to live through the trauma of waking up each night having been blown apart all over again...Watching themselves live the life of a defective...The dead are better in more sense than one in this case.

Moreover, to be helpless and watch all the scene unravel infront of your eyes is a bigger trauma than to be there...All of us have that urge in us to get out and do something when we watch injustice rule around us...But very few can let the frustration within us find a vent...Very few can really make a difference..There are a few,like me, who had to depend on their more mobile counterparts to inform them that the bomb scene was as close as a few kilometres away from them...That bombed a second time in the deep hollows of the heart...

I left for home earlier than usual, because of a concerned company that wanted to make sure that their labourers were not compromised in such acts of terrorism..True many were dying out there..but the little we can do for the safety of our employees, we shall make sure its done...they said...This humane endeavor saw me stuffed into a cab with many others of my kind...as we rode the city, ensurig we'd reached home one after another...

It is a fit of fate or what you may call...But I seem to complain the least about being the last one to reach home always...There I sat that day, riding to another colleague's home, when a huge traffic snarl waited ahead of us..All we could see ahead of us was a sea of bumper lights and the Mumbaikar's patience of waiting at a jam for hours without a single sign of complaint...I sometimes wonder if they ever knew where the existence of a horn in their vehicles...Not that it made any difference though...Smart I should say...

We seemed to move at a snail's pace...with cars and truckers acting like carts...Life seemed to stand still...move backwards at some moments...And then I saw it happen...He looked like he had returned from from his evening prayers...I'd seen him before...The typical cap and long trailing robe..that has been, more often than not,misused in today's movies to signify the quiet bomber, who lives amidst us, manufactures destructives like they were biscuits and throws them around like farmer and his manure...I couldnot mistake him for sure..It had to be a terrorist and he was running towards us..with great agility..and a valor i saw in those eyes...

News had beamed all morning about grenade attacks in Jammu...Innocent unsuspecting tourists brought down by pieces of scientific innovation that ensured that your family remembered you for good...Quick memories of mine lashed through my mind...Distant thoughts of friends from school and college ran past...the face of my dear computer science teacher laughed at me mockingly....

Through all of this the man had almost reached my window...I turned to my driver, in search of someone who would share a similar fear...foolish..like looking away would make matters easier.!!I should listen to people when they say i needed to grow up...This was it...I saw the end...I would be blown apart too...If only I had insisted that I wanted to go home first.!! If only i hadnt left office at all...It felt like heaven now...in the final moments of my life...and...

Mam...please have some water...long traffic jam...will get late...the bomb blast you know..everybody is scared...and tired...here..some parle g for you...

What...? I turned to the face that had mouthed it...It was the same bomber...He pushed a dirty Bisleri bottle into my hand..the other held a huge plate overflowing with biscuits...In a state of shocked, I nodded a No Thanks...he vanished as quickly as he had appeared...I quietly watched him in my rear view...as he moved from one stalled vehicle to another...offerred his treasure..and moved on...

I looked ahead and saw many more...there were older ones on the divider who ensured that these delivery boys were stacked all the time...And these little angels ran to every new vehicle that inched forward..and gave their bit of service...I was more ashamed of myself than shocked...A thought that hit me for long was the smile they left on the faces as they moved on...

At that stretch in time, we all might have been sharing the same feeling of insecurity...a thought of doom would have run through all our minds..Yet a few decided to let their fears rest and make sure they made a difference to someone's life...Kudos to them for their presence of mind...Cheers to the sense of brotherhood that still exists amidst us....