Will it be safe from now on?

Terrorists in Mumbai arrived by boat, went through a thickly guarded railway station with AK 47s and a loaded bag full of ammo, hijacked a police van and started firing from it at innocent passersby, camera people and policemen, bombed the Oberoi (Trident) hotel full of guests and citizens who'd visited there and hijacked the Taj building while a few escaped to Nariman House and held a Jewish family hostage.

We've had train blasts, communal violence but Wednesday night's trauma that went on to Thursday and spills over into today was completely something out of movies. India was again caught napping and one of its important city centres was held to ransom. A lot of people died in fires and explosions and our short-staffed police force was equipped with NSG commandos and other military groups - the army, navy etc. We were hooked to the TV all Thursday waiting and watching. We saw hotel guests being released, commandos storming the building stealthily, groups of policemen cordoning areas and blacking them out at night. Everyone couldnt believe a hijack of such proportions could happen and all we could do was damage control. When you look at the toll and at the many people who are battling with the terrorists who have died in the line of duty, you wonder if we're ever going to do enough to protect ourselves.

We're at the mercy of not just terrorists but a government that only concentrates on election mandates, a severely short-staffed and non-equipped police force, poorly paid army people and an intelligence network that's always ineffective. US ensured 9/11 did not happen again. Here, the media's going wild declaring another 9/11 - the biggest one yet - as people were dying, innocent casualties of terrorism. UK had several strategies and effective co-ordination with not only different forces but also the media that did not blow the issue out of proportion. Responsibility was serious business. Here, we have the media spreading rumours, different news on different channels while innocent people wonder what they should believe. Pathetic is not enough a word to describe their attitude. Several policemen have died including the top officials. Families have died in the blasts and fires set by terrorists.

Every single blast time, we panic but we move on and forget. As civilians, we are alert and helpful at times when we need to be. Is this same attitude reflected in people whose job it is to protect themselves and all of us? We look out for unclaimed bags and suspicious people. Do they? Unfair questions at a time like this, perhaps, when people are battling terrorists. Must we always battle them in our own homeland with hundreds dying and more held hostage? Its not just people but their livelihoods also that are held to ransom. Families are broken and its always the civilians, never a politician who experiences loss at a time like this. We lose experienced policemen, commandos and army people who never stint when it comes to battling it out with people whose number you're not sure of, you're not sure of how well-equipped they are. We find our defence forces handicapped by inferior protective armour, almost zero co-ordination and ancient methods of dealing with new and developing crises.

It may all be over today, I hope it is with all my heart. I dont know if tomorrow will ever be the same again.