What does innocent mean?
1) Free from evil or guilt or sin
2) Lacking intent or capacity to injure
3) Lacking sense or awareness
The above 3 meanings can be used to define "innocent" and I request the reader to think over the definitions till I get back to it.
In the aftermath of the recent Mumbai blasts, there has been a lot of activity going on among the youth on social networking sites. I have seen swear words ranted against the terrorists and the Government alike, cruel punishments suggested, "protest" marches signaled, blame games played and later I see a dead silence coming. This blog is not to condemn anyone or to agitate or to "offer sympathy" but to go on record over the internet as words of Chaitanya Godbole, were I to be killed in the next blast or a shooting maybe or rather in any form death greets me.
Without any disrespect to the diseased, I say, "I have no sympathy for them; what I do have is empathy." I don't wish to pretend to know about the wake of their deaths and the pain they leave behind for their close ones because I don't know it but I can understand. It is this sympathy which irks me; it is the same sympathy which creates a bunch of eunuchs in their own myth which leads to believe, "I have expressed my sympathy and hence my job is done." I can understand the condition but I won't insult those who have passed away by expressing sympathy but in fact question those who live on - how can we call anyone who dies as innocent?
The candlelight soap opera has started. Come one, come all - let us enjoy the drama! Damn it! This is not a f*cking candlelight romantic dinner to be enjoyed with a lover! This condition of ours is a bloody war not a dramatic tamasha to garner sympathy. The idiotic, narrow minded concept of lighting candles and organizing fasts has made us all useless to the nation! Since pre-independence, such notions have crippled the fighting power of a magnificent culture; since that time, we have chosen to believe that "my duty stops here"; it stops right at the line where inaction ends and action begins. I detest this concept which leads to labeling civilians like me "innocent". One of my civilian countryman is killed by an exploding bomb in a bustling street on his way home and he is called innocent while another countryman is killed on the frontier wearing an army uniform and he is not called innocent! Why this injustice, I say? Neither are they innocent and nor do their memories deserve sympathy. Their memories deserve respect and a promise of action because it is the actions of men which build a nation and not the sympathy of masses! I do not know if my countrymen wish to be called innocent, but I certainly don't want to be called so; because I for one, break all the definitions of innocent and with me, so do all of you. Are we free of evil or sin or guilt? No, we don't because all of us have committed mistakes and all of us have acted in anger; all of us have hated at least once and all of us are guilty of one thing or the other! Do we lack intent or capacity to injure? No, we don't! We have an intent in life - good or bad - that is another case which does not need discussion at the moment; and we sure as hell possess the capacity to injure or maim anyone who dares to challenge what we love! Do we lack sense or awareness? I certainly believe we don't! We are aware of our surroundings and our lives - whether we choose to respond and act accordingly - again, a matter beyond the discussion at the moment. So, all of us totally demolish the definition of "innocent" and still we term those among us who die such unfortunate deaths as innocents! Why? Just because they are dead? and if it is a question of death, then why can't the same bunch of people who carry hoardings about "innocents" do the same when an army-man is killed? It is this hypocrisy which causes pain; it is this hypocrisy which evokes anger. This is the reason that many believe that they are not at war and only those at the borders or those who fight criminals face the war; and this is where they insult the countless sacrifices made to attain and maintain freedom; this is where they insult those brave men and women who have ever bled, shed tears and/or toiled hard to keep this nation going; keep it breathing. The word "innocent" masks the reality - the reality that all of us being soldiers in one form or the other of a war; some wear uniforms and some do not; some contribute through prayers while some through actions; some use guns for weapons while others use something else; some defend while some build; some strengthen the economy while some strengthen the society! Bottom-line is, all of us are soldiers and all of us are meant to fight and hence neither of us can be called "Innocent"! It is this mask, this Matrix which fools the masses to believe that this is not their war, this is not their fight; and this is because it is difficult to fight this war! It is damn difficult to make a sacrifice and it is damn difficult to acknowledge pain and embrace it. Using the matrix of "innocence", we make ourselves a little nest hoping like the cat who drinks the milk with its eyes closed that we can get away with it - i.e. we can shut our eyes and continue drinking the milk (metaphor for life) while no-one watches us; never embracing the reality that we are at war too and our enemies are watching us! This is the very reason we get struck so many times and yet continue to be so - we do not want to embrace the reality of a war which has physically reached right up to our doorsteps while emotionally and spiritually always waged on whether we accepted it or not! In the end, the enemy is the same - our fears. As long as we are enslaved by our fears and as long as we allow our fears to dictate terms to live our lives, we continue losing ground in this war. As long as we just light candles and carry out protests, we reaffirm our enemies that our true spirit is lost; they wish to strike fear in our hearts and they are succeeding in their objective when they see us recede more into this "Matrix of Innocence". Nobody is innocent, what really makes the difference is the reason they are guilty for....
Please my friends, do not support candle marches! This blog is to remind all of my fellow countrymen that we are fighters! We are strong to take this pain and battle against it. We have tremendous potential to master fear and to win against it. This is mankind we are talking of and mankind is much more powerful than one can imagine. We can unlock that courage within us and defeat the terrorist inside - the terrorist called fear! Defeat the matrix of innocence - we are not innocent and we deserve more! We deserve to be great; we deserve to be a part of a rising nation and a class of people who stand up to their difficulties, grab them by the balls and make them squeal! We deserve to be fearless and to live free! To all the readers, I am at war; I have welcomed this war as my own - the war with the terrorism inside me and that outside! Were I to be the one killed in such mass murders, please do not call me "innocent" because I am guilty - guilty of all the mistakes I have committed to date which have helped me grow better than before; guilty of carrying intent - the intent of eternal devotion to my nation; guilty of being aware that like my brave countrymen at my nation's borders, I too am at war with numerous enemies in numerous forms; I am guilty to go on record and say that no terrorist can strike fear within me and to every one of them I say - I am not afraid of you and your actions; I am not afraid of the death you can be because not a single bullet from your guns nor a single shrapnel from your bombs would destroy my love of this nation nor would it kill my physical being till my work is done. As long as you do your job, I will be doing mine - to fight you....
Jai Hind!
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