Mumbai Whispers

What I hear from the gasps of Mumbai, and what I read from the multiplying notations of blood: a) The willful victim state of terror that is India learns nothing, and gives its cheapest commodities—we, the citizens—to the marauders of radical Islam.
b) Lives are dispensable in an India where political expediency triumphs over national interest.
c) The politician has abdicated the nation. He looks into the microphone—or the television camera—when he should ideally be looking with guilt and remorse into the savaged soul of the nation.
d) We know who the enemy of the nation is; we know the religion of terror; but we have problem with nomenclature; we are not politically prepared to name the Evil.
e) We think winning an election would be problematic if we dared to utter 'Islamic' or 'Muslim' as an adjective to the terror that strikes at the foundation of the nation.
f) What is at work is not political correctness but political cowardice, for even the terrorist would feel hurt if we denied him his religious honour. Jihad is the war of radical Islamism. Isn't it?
g) The most dangerous place in the world is our neighbour, but we refuse to identify Pakistan, whose fastest growing industry is jihad, as the source and sponsor of terror that challenges India's existence.
h) Learn from Israel, the nation that never sleeps, how to be alive when you're surrounded by people who deny you your nationhood.
i) For the sake of the greater national good, let's be prepared to compromise a bit on our civil liberties. Harder times require harsh laws.
j) Let's live, and let's not let the soldiers of an angry god take away our freedom—our freedom to walk on the street, check into a hotel, shop in the mall…let our lives be not subordinated to the nihilistic fantasy of a few.