Theft at Gandhi's Grave

“Holy day or just a holiday?” I took pride in this poor attempt at cynical pun. Today was a holiday but still I wasn’t happy when I woke up, reason being my father had told me that we would be going to Raj Ghat to see Gandhi’s tomb and pay our respects to him. I wasn’t interested; my mom even resented the idea. 

It was hot but not far. We reached Raj Ghat in less than half an hour. The place wasn’t as crowded as I expected it to be. Not shockingly, Anna Hazare was also present, there was a small contingent of about 50 people around him, then there were tourists; local and foreign, a hoard of school children in Blue and white, and who could miss the loud and happy tamilians. 

The tomb was beautifully flower decorated for the occasion. I could say it was special because there was more than just the Genda Phool that you find everywhere in Delhi. People stood by the tomb, near the flowers, behind the torch and posed at a thousand more places in the 15 X 15 space. Momdad went ahead close to the tomb to offer the fist full of Genda Phool that they had bought at the gate for 10 rupees. I decided to stand this one out, I stood leaning to the parapet wall surrounding the tomb and looked at the crowd. Some offered flowers, some bowed their head and some just wanted to click more and more photos.

Just a couple minutes later I saw my parents panic stricken faces. My mom’s purse had been stolen. A girl had put her hand into my mom’s handbag and had stolen the purse while in the crowd paying respects. We were aghast. Spoke to the security nearby, and looked for the purse hoping to find it fallen nearby, but it was stolen, deliberately and consciously stolen.

I was angry, at mother for being careless, at father for thinking up this useless plan and at myself for not bothering to stick with my mother in a crowd. Then I was angry at the thief, she had stolen right in front of Mahatma Gandhi’s tomb! Such irony!!

It reminded me of a line said by an 18^th century poet, he says “No man can be patriot on an empty stomach” Ofcourse he died 69 years before Gandhi was born. But there was only 1 Gandhi(and there were many other great patriots in history who almost fasted to their death), but the saying holds good for the thief, she was just trying to make a living, steal in front of Gandhi’s grave or from a pretty dame, it was just an attempt to feed herself. 

We spent the whole journey back thinking of what was lost and talking about how we could’ve prevented it and how people have lost their conscience. Stealing in front of Bapu! 6 hours after the incident I was still thinking, not about our loss, but the Gandhi connection. How these values of truth and justice and honesty and everything has turned out to remain just a sound of humbug! I thought about the Irony again and again, Theft right in front of Gandhi’s grave, how ironic how ironic... I said that aloud once.. then silently again. Then it struck me.. this wasn’t ironic, it was symbolic. Theft at Gandhi’s grave.

Kill Better Than Cure

A fortnight before his 25^th Birthday, Kasab is hit by the news of his Death Sentence being upheld by the Supreme Court of India. Ajmal Kasab was the only one to be caught alive of the 10 member terrorist group who spray painted Mumbai in blood. This attack not only made us aware of what terrorists can do but also raised serious question on the Homeland Security of India. An act of waging war resulted in a Death Penalty for the only serving disoriented youth turned jihadi born in Pakistan.  

 This was more than well received by the people of India. The country rejoiced as it finally became apparent that India is ready to deliver harsh punishments to those who pose threat to the integrity of this great land. The Economist once said that the 26/11 trial will be a test of the Indian judiciary and the resolve of the people of India; if they meant pronouncing a death sentence as the great test then we have passed. People of India majorly have also accepted and applauded the SC’s call. People like Raj Thakare have even gone so far as to distribute sweets and call it a day of celebration. And in a country as democratic as India there are people who opposed the death sentence. 

Not surprisingly, there are NGO’s, activists, past court judges, and the so called intellectuals who are against the death penalty. Firstpost made an informative post that meandered about the idea of death penalty. It spoke of how India is one among the few nations that still administer execution as a punishment. At the same time the post also spoke of how difficult it is to kill convicts. The stats said that in the past 17 years only 1 convict has been executed while there are still more than 300 convicts on the death roll. 

All this is fine. Facts, numbers and stories speak the truth. India is weak in killing people, It does take a long time for our courts to move cases and we really have spent more than 50 crores for Kasab’s super security jail where he ate Biriyani twice a day. But what of him??

It’s very true that he is a terrorist who attacked India and all that is Indian, and we have spent a lot of money on him, he has stayed in jails for almost 4 years and had ‘Biriyani’. But does that mean he wanted this? Can you imagine how it must be to be caught in a prison was something like a terrorist attack? Receiving all those methods of physical and mental torture in the prisons (which of course doesn’t come out in the media) being disowned by his country, his parents and everything that he considered his must have played something on his head. How must it feel when no one knows what you feel inside and then come out and make comments, rejoice and celebrate something about you without knowing how you’ve felt. 

It reminds me of my placement season in college. The placements were in full force. Companies kept flying in every day and almost everyone in the college had at least 1 job offer by the end of the first month. As the second and third months rolled on, my close friends, not so close ones, everyone had a job and some 2 or 3, but I had nothing in hand, I hadn’t even been able to attend interviews thanks to my root burrowing marks.  Depression, deprivation, lowliness, loneliness and a few other ness-es crowded my life and I was a walking dead in a world full of opportunities. And finally at the fag end of the placement season, I found a job that suited me and incidentally it was the first company to announce the joining date. As months passed and everyone had joined work, we met once at college and everyone kept telling me how lucky I was to be the first one to start working, and how I ‘hit’ a jackpot in the end… well it wasn’t hard to smile at them but it was hard for me to tell them how much mental and emotional stress I had been in while they were boasting and toasting their placements oblivious to my sorrow. 

The same is what I saw when Veerappan, the Elephant Ivory and Sandalwood thief and the much feared dacoit in the woods of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu was killed in an encounter with the Veerappan Special Task force in the October of 2004.  As the people of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu celebrated the death of the dacoit, his family and thousands of forest dwellers mourned his death. It is also reported that thousands of people were gathered for his funeral. And on the other side there were people like us rejoicing his death. I ask you here, is it so hard to stay neutral? Empathise a little, people like Veerappan or Kasab might be bad, but they’re humans too.

Coming to Kasab, in some interrogations, he has switched sides, and the police express their shock at this. It is reported that Kasab said that his operators offered money and security to his family, and if the India Police did the same, he was ready to work for them as well. There are also outcomes in the interrogations that suggest Kasab had noidea what was there in the Quran, on being asked about it, he only spoke of Jihad, and only a few high sounding lines at that. I wouldn’t be surprised if Kasab chose death over a painful half-life.

I’m not supporting Kasab, and I am definitely not against his death. I’m just saying kill him fast. Finish the cursed case. He might just be a juvenile well-meaning for his family, or he might be a deadly terrorist, but he wronged. And for this he must be punished. Kill him, but don’t keep his body and mind in a place where no one wants him, don’t let him go mad, don’t torture him with uncertainty. Give him death, not cruelty.