A death that only counts !

The daily evening trains running on the meter gaze along the GT Road are a sight to see. I have often seen ppl traveling sitting on the roof of the trains but the guys going on these trains never cease to astonish me with their dare-devils. So what do u have to say about a group of ppl playing cards on the roof and around 5-6 ppl actually watching them, standing in a circle around them !!
Having read "Train to Pakistan" just days back, I was reminded of that fateful train when I saw a similarly crowded one today. And that set me thinking about death. In our society, under normal circumstances, there is a kind of respect attached with death. U may die of old age, health reasons, may get killed by somebody but a dead person invariably attracts sympathy, praise, sadness and some amount of respect if I may put it that way. In short, a death is acknowledged.
But all this is when our society functions normally. Consider the times of turbulence like riots or may be partition time. At that time ppl were being killed and all that a death meant was a number. If u receive 600 bodies from other side, u must send back 1200, doesn't matter who u kill. If u sea a train going to the other side, u fire at it. If u see ppl walking towards the border, u spike them. I have often heard this word "mindless killing", I have even spent days close to highly riot sensitive areas but the idea never sunk in. But after reading TP, I really cringe at the thought of the conditions at that time. I am not afraid of dying but the thought of this kind of death, with out any particular reason, any particular motive and without acknowledgement gives me cringes. May God save all souls from such an end !!

Comments

Priyendra said…
I recently watched Mr. and Mrs. Iyer. I would recommend the film very highly. Without having even a single gory scene, it manages to induce a very powerful riot-like mood in the viewer! A must see if you haven't seen it already. The focus ofcourse is on how unconcerned and innocent are the people who actually fall victim to rioters.
Anonymous said…
Also spare a thought for the women...they generally face the worst form of violence...
T
Anonymous said…
While going through my daughter’s “Children Encyclopaedia for Children”
In ‘wealth and Poverty section’ I came across this information and pic

“People ride on the roof of a train in India. Annual income per person….”
What an introduction of our motherland but how true.
I saw some lil dare devils even running on the train roof....
bye.
abhaga said…
psd: I have watched some part of it. It is on my "to watch" list already :).
T: I agree. In fact sometimes, what they suffer is far worse than death.
anon: I think that the description shows a kind of indifference and ignorance also. All these TV channels will proudly show bad living conditions in Asian and African countries but they never show u the conditions in Black colonies in US and other poor sections of US.
Anonymous said…
Really hard to find such a maturity level in a young guy. The deep insight and close observations to the life and livings around you/us, make me think of you as really someone who really deserves this much attention. Only a sensible heart can "feel" what you have written in diffent threads of your blogs.

Earlier I was aware of just one "ABHAYA", who was quite opposite to all this, had an all time fun and after reading many scrap book entries and poetries on ABHAGA on orkut, I could not easily believe that this is the same ABHAYA.

But after reading a few of your blogs.. I have a great deal of respect for you and your sensible heart, which diffentiate you from the crowd. After all its the only thing which makes us a human-being.
Anonymous said…
Really hard to find such a maturity level in a young guy. The deep insight and close observations to the life and livings around you/us, make me think of you as really someone who really deserves this much attention. Only a sensible heart can "feel" what you have written in diffent threads of your blogs.

Earlier I was aware of just one "ABHAYA", who was quite opposite to all this, had an all time fun and after reading many scrap book entries and poetries on ABHAGA on orkut, I could not easily believe that this is the same ABHAYA.

But after reading a few of your blogs.. I have a great deal of respect for you and your sensible heart, which diffentiate you from the crowd. After all its the only thing which makes us a human-being.

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