Tuesday, January 16, 2007

Make us feel secure

We've come a full circle. Life used to be so uncertain in the 17th, 18th and even the early part of the 19th century. Common cold, high fever or even a few broken bones were termed deadly. It is the 21st century now and things havent changed much. Even now, I cant be sure that I'll be alive and kicking tomorrow. I may have to finish writing this soon because if I'm not around tomorrow, this would be an unfinished train of thought. Jokes apart, life now, is uncertain for different reasons.
Militant outfits are mushrooming like never before. Bomb blasts and shoot-outs are so common that people have become de-sensitised to violence. The recent blasts in Mumbai, Varnasi and Delhi have shown how fragile life is.
Talking about uncertainity is not going to get us anywhere. What are we going to do about it? Security in public places should be beefed up. And I dont mean, just a dozen more policemen. Recently, I was at this multiplex watching the flavour of the season, Dhoom 2. At the entrance, there was this guy checking our bags. He was doing quite a good job of it. After the movie, we went to a mall to just do some harmless window shopping. The mall has about 5 to 10 entrances. There was an armed security guard only at the main entrance. And even the tommy gun that he was carrying seemed to be of no use. It was so huge that it would take him a day or two to lift, aim and shoot. It resembled one of those long stemmed rifles on display at museums. Wonder if he got it from one such place.
My point is, why make a farce of having a security guard around when the guy cant even pick up his so-called weapon?
Why has there been no such incident in the recent past in the US or the UK? Cos they have really woken up after 9/11 and the London bombings. We should be doing the same thing. Copying good stuff from the west is not that bad an idea. What say?
Authorities, please wake up to the real fear around us and make us feel secure.