Resilience

How much of enough is ENOUGH? This is a question that has been receiving a fair share of mileage in rallies, the media as well as personal conversations. The Indian Civilization, inspite of being among the oldest in the world, is one that has never been an aggressor. Of course, we have been invaded, plundered and colonized by several parties, ranging from Qutb-ud-Din Aibak to Babur to the British. We have socially evolved in a way to appear unfazed by everything. We have been a society that has, always, been able to, what is usually called, "move on". Floods and earthquakes ravage us, but we still find the courage to pick up the threads and start over. Serial blasts rip through the city, we still take the same metros, on the same routes,, the very next day. To a point, its a boon. We are a society that tries to take everything in its stride. It is probably what gives us the strength to fight and bounce back. But beyond a level, this resilience becomes a weakness. VJ Luke Kenney, as a panelist on NDTV's We The People, said that he was 13 when he encountered his first riots, he took the train the next day after the blasts, he too, like countless others, thought, "hota hai". And that, he believes, was his mistake. If we ourselves are fine with the terror atrocities being inflicted upon us and do not protest, why in the name of Christ would anyone else care. We are covered by a thicker skin as compared to many, but that does not mean that driving knives through it is acceptable. Our so-called resilience should not be mistaken for indifference or weakness. We must make it very clear that it's "not ok" this time. We shall make conscious efforts not to move on, to ensure that such incidents do not become the order of the day. As one Mumbai based entrepreneur correctly remarked, "Its high time we went from being resiliently defensive to resolutely offensive".