Many of us heaved a sigh of relief as 2008 drew towards its end. The shocked nation after the 26/11 Mumbai carnage prayed for a better year ahead. Reams of newsprint devoted to the events that visited us in 2008 and many wondered if it was the worst year in India’s history. In his opening piece in a special New Year issue of Outlook, the editor-in-chief Vinod Mehta appeared very distressed and felt that every kind trouble and strife seems destined to visit our shores. How prophetic he was is proved in just the first few days of the New Year, not just for India but for the rest of the world as well. Just look at the events between the first day of 2009 and today as I am writing this piece:
A serial bomb blasts on the first day of 2009 rocks Guwahati, a major city in the Indian state of Assam;
Indian armed forces encounter with terrorists in the Kashmir valley, which began more than 60 hours ago and is still on as I write this;
Sri Lankan Army’s major offensive against LTTE, a terrorist group waging war against Sri Lanka; the army is on the verge of taking over the control of the areas under the LTTE’s hold for decades and capturing its head Prabhakaran;
Israel launches ground assault inside Gaza in retaliation to Hamas launching rocket attacks from inside the Gaza strip on Israel territories; the world is watching this crisis with great concern;
An earthquake in Indonesia;
We are confronted immediately with news of distress, crisis, violence and tragedy all across the globe. And this is just the 5th day of 2009! I am sure, like me and many of us, Vinod Mehta must be praying that his worst fears don’t come true and he is proved wrong.
A serial bomb blasts on the first day of 2009 rocks Guwahati, a major city in the Indian state of Assam;
Indian armed forces encounter with terrorists in the Kashmir valley, which began more than 60 hours ago and is still on as I write this;
Sri Lankan Army’s major offensive against LTTE, a terrorist group waging war against Sri Lanka; the army is on the verge of taking over the control of the areas under the LTTE’s hold for decades and capturing its head Prabhakaran;
Israel launches ground assault inside Gaza in retaliation to Hamas launching rocket attacks from inside the Gaza strip on Israel territories; the world is watching this crisis with great concern;
An earthquake in Indonesia;
We are confronted immediately with news of distress, crisis, violence and tragedy all across the globe. And this is just the 5th day of 2009! I am sure, like me and many of us, Vinod Mehta must be praying that his worst fears don’t come true and he is proved wrong.
No comments:
Post a Comment