Topic of every single conversation in the past week!

No prizes for guessing whats coming up on this post. It's about the terror strikes in Mumbai. This has been the conversational topic for the past week. And I'm sure its the same with all Indians. Although every single person agrees with the problem that our country faces today, everyone seems to have a different opinion, on what needs to be done to change things. Justifiably there has been a lot of emotional talk, but talk won't magically convert to actions, do they?

I heard one of my friends talking about joining the defence forces. It was the only source of genuine smile for me the whole gloomy week. Well, first of all, he is not fit physically to be in the armed forces. Even if he was physically fit, he has no where the amount of mental strength required. Thinking of the mental strength, I remember telling him that his heart used to race while playing CS(Counter Strike), a popular Multi player game. Think of a real situation, where he is holding a real gun and real bullets a flying past you. Well there is no reset in the real world!

I also hear a lot of people blaming the politicians for what has happened. They deserve to be blamed. They did not do their job in the right way. If the government were to be a software company, all these people would have had pink slips by dawn break. For the sake of analogy, its equivalent to me introducing a virus in a product of my company, but just way more serious than that. But the disappointing fact is that, no one seems to come up with the answer as to who the replacements are for these people. No politician in India is worth the respect a leader deserves. There is no idol among us. So that leaves us with no replacement. Lot of people are suggesting that a newly formed party should come to power. Although a Nobel idea, it would never work. Even if it does, how can one be sure that they are better administrators than the current people. So it is better to have a known devil rather than an unknown fairy.

Others are contemplating on national television of removing the democracy. Well, although I do believe that a strong dictatorship is better than a weak democracy (as mentioned in one of my previous post), I think its better to continue with democracy at the moment. Think of the 100 years of freedom struggle, all the lives lost for one purpose, to bring democracy to this country, to bring freedom. Changing this due to some bloody lunatics, is a disgrace to their courage and the selfless sacrifices they have made for their homeland.

For the moment, I would like just one change from the politicians a.k.a our leaders. "Be true to yourself". They need not be answerable to anyone. Lot of things cannot be answered in public. But they should be able to touch their heart (hope they have one!), and tell that "I think what I'm doing is in the right interest of this country".

Lastly, all I have come to hear in the past week is finger pointing. Common man points to government which in turn points at Pakistan. I have seriously introspected and come to the conclusion that I'm not even half brave to take up a job in armed forces. I'm sure that I cannot be a great leader. With those two options ruled out, the only career choice I can make now, which will at some level contribute to this country, is to accept an Administrative job in the intelligence forces. Not field work, but I think I would be good at handling the back end logistics. On that front, I'll seriously consider taking up such a job profile after I complete my MBA.

India needs leaders. Inspirational leaders. Since they are hard to find, we have to make the best use of the current ones. As they say, "Live in reality".