And a Happy New Year 2009!!!!

Federal Investigative Agency.

I am excited!!

How this might be used (if it ever forms) is really worth giving a thought. I need to read up first on what’s federal and what’s state (right? close??) (I had to refer to Wiki for what I needed to know from my 6th class Social Studies-Sorry Christopher Sir, or was that 7th, then Sorry Simon Sir).

But will it work? Will the State powers bow down to a powerful federal agency that can (be manipulated from the centre???) effectively root out any partisanship shown towards potential terror elements for the sake of vote-bank politics? (all big words I know..)

Terror attacks have happened in the past, (I am not undermining the Mumbai incident) and then after each of those attacks, all that has happened now has been said and done. Words like “enough”, “tired”, “dirty politicians”, “security”, “save us”, “dog”, “cat” (and spelled differently) were used. Candle light vigils, rallies, were conducted and attended. Words like “spirit”, “resilient”, “soul” were thrown at us to chew on and swallow and digest and then excreted only to be fed on it again. (Eww..coprophagy!!!)

News channels invited “experts” and “victims” alike, gave us “exclusive” interviews and super-exclusive pictures covering even the minutest event of the tragedy. Specialists of “News networks” conducted special programs, debates inviting already pressurized citizens, angry youth (and adults above 25, below 35), seniors who described peaceful times of the yore, children who questioned about their future. Quite an ensemble [en·sem·ble n. A unit or group of complementary parts that contribute to a single effect.. (from dictionary)] I say.

And then, Britney Spears became the headline in India. Barrack Obama became a national hero. People become more concerned over a reality show. Besides that, there were the regular issues like fuel hike, shortage of cooking fuels, pollutions, crowded cities, drying up of rural areas (literally and figuratively), jobs, lay-offs, and of course the economy. Not to forget the small inconveniences like global warming, Al-Qaeda (which have, not surprisingly, become common vocabulary much like Dairy Milk, Duck Tales, Sachin Tendulkar, cable tv, beauty pageants, backstreet boys of my growing up times).

Ok, so where are we.  No, that’s not an intended joke. Where are we. Exactly at the same place as before. Will we be at the same place later, from now?

I don’t know. May be then I will be the senior citizen invited to speak about the peaceful times of this era compared to the troubled world war 3 times of the future.

Disclaimer: Despite my best efforts of being true to the tragedy that has happened not just in Mumbai, but in every one of our lives, I might come off as a rather wannabe hip-finger-pointing-armchair-reformer. Yes I am. For now.