It was Sunday the 6th of December 1992. I was a II year engineering student at HBTI Kanpur, waiting to appear for my 1st semester exams to begin from the next day and continue through the week to end on 11th of December. I had worked very had throughout the semester, perhaps for the first time in my life. Working that hard was not my habit, just like running a 400 m relay every morning for a couch potato. You can imagine, how much was I longing for the exams to come to an end, and me breathing free and fresh air for a couple of weeks before my next semester began.
I was a day-scholar, staying in the cosy comfort of my home, and did practically nothing other than study (no TV, no movies and few friends, all like myself).
It was about 7 in the evening of that fateful day, that something happened, that changed my thought process for ever and dumped millions of questions in my mind, answers to the same are still hazy.
I heard the news that the Babri Masjid had been demolished by the supporters of the Ram Temple at Ayodhya. It was insane to every sane person. I am sure that most of the readers here remember that.
We had no Cable TV at our home, and our responsible DD did not air that news till it was stale. In a way it was to prevent communal voilence from breaking out thoughtout the nation. BBC however did the damage and telecasted the images of the shameful event. The next news items cobered nothing else but the chronicle of rios across the nation and curfew being imposed in all sensitive areas. My hometown was no exception. Curfew was declared for indefinate period.
My dreams of getting through with my exams within the week were shattered. I had been shaky in the 1st year of engineering by my standards, and was determined to mend my ways this this around. I did not have words to express my disgust on those who are so shortsighted that they fight on such petty issues. It was a personal anguish for other reasons, but it made me think really hard as to how such events are triggered and how can they be eliminated.
The space here is too little to pen dowm all that went through my teenaged mind, but it disgusted me no ends to belong to a country that is led by such irresponsible leaders like LK Advani , Ashok Singhal, Uma Bharti etc.They targetted the illiterate polulace of the country , them being majority everywhere, and used them in numbers for their personal gains. People did not even understand that no religion talks of intolerance towards others. Well, people do not understand religion in general.
The situation took 20 days to be controllable again, and we had our exams starting from 28th December, including 1st January as well. We ended up having just 1 Sunday betweem semesters and were back to our classes..... Quite frustrated with us being victims of something not of our making.
As time went by, I realised that the ones who have been losing their lives, their loved ones etc have obviously been more unfortunate. Not all, as many participated in the riots and lost something or someone in bargain. Why are people so blind? Why can they not see what is good for them?
16 years have passed since then, but my questions have found no answers. People still fight over communal issues and kill or injure each other. What do they gain? Crafty leaders still take hordes of countrymen for a ride, use their numbers and baffle progress. It was Advani & co then, its Mamta Banerjee now. And, what's the outcome? Some people lose thier lives, some their loved oned, some gain an injury or two, but none gain something they really fought for. How many of the communal rioteers are destined to go to heaven ? None I would say. How many farmers would get their land back and earn something better out of it in Singur? We are yet to see, but the figure would be dismal.
We talk about our country progressing in leaps and bounds. It has recently been recognised as a global power in nuclear energy. We have won a Gold meadl at the Olympics and the T20 world cup last year. On the economic front, we are more liberalised than what we were 16 years ago. The living standards of select few metriotes have shot up. But that's the end of it.
We are still ill-prepared to fight any clalmity, or a terrorist campaign (attack would not be correct now) or to understand what our politicians wnat to use us for. This covers every part of the country. Hence, the larger chunk of our country is still where we were when the Babri Masjid was defaced. That's as far as my memory goes.
Why don't we spend money in constructing schools and hospitals instead of temples or mosques? Will the Almighty love us less?
This was one of the questions that came in my mind then, on the 6th December 1992. Today is 18th September 2008, and I am no wiser.
BTW, I completed my Engineering as the university gold medalist later, but could never forget that time!!!
