Just another day in paradise......

There's a sense of deja vu in all of this, no? I am reading the newspapers, which are filled with stories of the bomb blasts; stories of survivors as well as of those who weren't all that fortunate; stories of common people and of uncommon courage; of crises and of the city's remarkable recuperative spirit. But it all seems familiar; I am reminded of the stories that were published post 26-July. My dear rain-gods had been the villains then and the calamity had been a little different in nature, but the city, and the people affected, were the same. But this time around, the stories failed to move me. And no, I have not yet become a hard-hearted cynic, the kind who has forgotten to cheer the city's spirit while tut-tut-ing over the city's administration. It's just a sense of frustration, you know; the kind that most youngsters are well-acquainted with.

If you are above 40 and are reading this, hell, man, this blog is meant do do the journalistic equivalent of yanking-you-by-the-collars-and-shaking-you-real-hard. I shall leave be the below-40 gang, 'cos they haven't been here long enough to cause actual damage, but really, what the hell were the rest of you thinking anyway? As I see it, this planet has become a frightening place to live in, and shit, you have done diddly-squat to change that. Decade after decade, you have sat down complacently and seen everything beautiful or right about this planet being mauled to pieces, and have you ever so much as lifted a finger to change that? Have you? There's a water problem on this planet now, there's global warming, there's starvation deaths and wars; there's the threat of nuclear destruction looming over our heads, there are people dying due to the lack of basic necessities, there are plants and animals that are being vaporised into extinction because we are too selfish to share resources with them, there are children with incurable diseases, there's depression and there's drugs. And this is what youve left us as an inheritance. And don't even think of that age-old excuse 'I was so caught up with living, I forgot all about life' or the one about it not being your look-out. Know what, you have screwed up big time, dude. There are terrorists creeping all over this bloody place, and all bcos you folks were too adamant to admit that another point of view could exist. You think the politicians are to blame? Hell, you put them there in the first place. I am reminded of a line I read or heard somewhere, an inaccurate and less-effective equivalent of which, is 'Where were you when the last tiger was being killed for its skin?"..probably queing up to buy the thing for an astronoimcal price, would be my guess..

You can pat yourselves on the back..you've done such a truly marvellous job of destroying my planet that getting it back to its original shape seems an impossible task. Damage-control, though extensive, seems a much more feasible option, but you haven't even left us enough time, have you? You've left me a thousand things to do, and given me only so many seconds to do it all in. It seems like a mad joke. That's a brilliant gift to give to your child, a bloody, ticking, time-bomb. Hah! You kept producing children, deaf to the cries of the orphaned; you kept wasting food and water like there's no tommorrow, oblivious to the starvation in Africa; you kept initiating wars, paying little heed to the few voices that urged you to 'give peace a chance'; you kept ravaging our forests, un-mindful of its long-term consequences. You did this, and much more, and now life's come full circle. 'Cos we, who've never had a part in the carnage, shall be made to pay for your sins. It's we who'll get poisoned by the chemicals you put in the air; it's we who'll fight for precious drops of water; it's we who'll lose our plant and animal friends, and it's we who'll die of wretched diseases that have no cure. But what's the point in trying to remind you of all this? You'll be dead in a few years as it is; I guess I should spend time trying to make the world a better place for the ones you've already brought, and continue to bring, in here.

I've often had arguments about this with people, you know (and no prizes for guessing : they're the over-40's) and they keep saying how doomsday is inevitable. At the rate at which we are going, the planet will go down in a cupla thousand years. Well, dude, just wanted to let you know that it won't. That's a promise. This generation ain't all that fucked-up; ofcourse, we're still obsessed with drugs and sex, but at least we ain't as wasted as you guys were. There's hope for this planet still. You've messed it up bad, but the good thing is the salvage operation is being run by awfully dedicated people, so boo to you.

But I digress. I was talking about the blasts, and my reaction to them. The following lyrics from the song 'Fragile' by Sting, one from the 'over-40s' bunch, no doubt, but enlightened nevertheless, did move me. I shall leave you all here to ruminate over the wisdom in his lyrics :

"Fragile"

If blood will flow when flesh and steel are one

Drying in the colour of the evening sun

Tomorrow's rain will wash the stains away

But something in our minds will always stay

Perhaps this final act was meant

To clinch a lifetime's argument

That nothing comes from violence and nothing ever could

For all those born beneath an angry star

Lest we forget how fragile we are

On and on the rain will fall

Like tears from a star like tears from a star

On and on the rain will say

How fragile we are, how fragile we are

PS : If you've got decent knowledge of music, you'll realise that the title to this blog, is also the title of a track by Phil Collins. Again, excellent lyrics. But I don't have it in me to keep digging out lyrics for a bunch of pathetic old sods, or is it 'apathetic' old sods?