August 15th! Independence Day! A holiday! A day where in today’s India, we are free to die at the hands of an unknown terrorist for his/her religious or financial or fanatic cause! My initial thoughts as this day approaches are usually on the lines of – “ Do Not Travel. Avoid crowded places and try to stay out of Metro’s” And after each August 15th I heave a sigh of relief – “phew escaped!”

Through the day itself I invariably keep scanning the channels to check if a blast has occurred or not, where have we been hit? I know its not just me either, I know the entire nation is gripped with the same thoughts, we may miss our national flag hoisting or even forget to stand up in respect for our national anthem but seldom do we allow ourselves to miss the grotesque details of mindless violence unleashed in our country on OUR DAY!

I am scared, I am concerned and I bloody well identify with Nasureedin Shah’s character in the movie “A Wednesday”. Where do we stop this? How do we get it stopped? Exercising my voting rights, ensuring awareness displaces ignorance or getting into the citizen police act all helps and contributes to save ourselves and our country but it feels like a drop of water against the red ocean of terrorism.

Intelligent society says as “Love” is the only vaccine for HIV so too is it the only vaccine for terrorism. But I am no Buddha to smile in the face of uncalled for anger and violence. I react with a mind filled with impotent fury and then get even more frustrated when I realize that my reactions don’t count.

It’s at times like this that I wish technological advancements had been restricted to only the field of medical science. After all without bombs and nuclear weapons we wouldn’t have been able to kill so many of us at one go huh?

Amidst all these thoughts I await Independence Day. May my country’s flag fly high and proudly with no blood shed to stain it. Jai Hind!