Journalism of Courage
Post blast,citizens vent their fury on the internet
The reasons differed. Right from criticising the policy of the police to give extra security for the release of a film to the general apathy of the government in dealing with situations like these which bought forth a feeling of déjà vu from the time when the same had happened in Mumbai a year and couple of months back,they were all there. And yet the citys technologically savvy public feels that this is yet another case where those in the right places will make big promises and forget them even before the embers of the funeral pyres,of those dead,cool down.
Writes V Khemnar an MBA student from a prominent city college,writes on his Facebook status message link,Government says we cannot protect our citizens as our entire force was busy protecting the release of MNIK.
It is really ironic that we are ill equipped to protect the city. If the city police would deploy cops at such regular intervals across the city,as they did at the theatres on Saturday then this might not have happened. Who lost eventually? We the people, he writes a reply in anguish
While a post on the Facebook community of In memory of all those who died in the Pune Koregaon Bomb Blast,by Neerajana Datta read,Lost my 3 scul (school) friends, another one by Uday Singh Deshmukh,a student read,We need to stand tall and fight back against such attacks, he says,One of my friends was near the bakery when the blast actually happened and it was scary and terrifying not only for him but also for me because just like my friend the people who have died or gotten injured too have families back home,and no one deserves this. In fact instead of passing on the blame game to cops,politicians or even foreign terrorist groups we need to ourselves stand up against such evils and send out a message saying that we are strong and that we do not need to be scared of cowards.
Another regular at the German Bakery,Olivia Joseph who works at one of the prominent hotels nearby writes on her wall,That place was my favourite hangout for my evening cuppa of masala chai,after my shifts I hope those who did this rot in hell,
While condolences for the same came in from across the nation and globe,a feeling of general apathy is what has incensed the crowd. Nishith M,who is currently pursuing his masters from the United States,writes on Orkut,And then the cycle will repeat again,first the political blame game,then the public outburst,followed by a peace march and candle marches,culminating in compensation for the victims who died,and then moving on in anticipation of this to happen in some other city. This is how the chain has been continuing,and god forbid we or anyone else break it.
While on last count the In memory of all those who died in the Pune Koregaon Bomb Blast had close to 3700 members (3638) and is growing rapidly,the hatred that had been simmering since the Mumbai attacks has finally found another vent in the form of the citizens becoming very vocal in expressing their rage against the governments lack of ability to bring the guilty to justice. However along with the same feeling of anger and guilt is also a feeling of standing tall amidst ruins,as this post by L Shakih reads,We can built a better German Bakery again Keep the spirit alive.
