Of Superheroes and bald Villians

This post was supposed to be about how on the weekend I managed to watch two sets of dark haired Superheroes and Bald Villians. Saturday was filled with Superman and the bald but totally hot Lex Luthor and Sunday ofcourse the dark haired Materazi and the puzzling actions of Bald Zidane. But then yesterday happened and this post is actually a stop and start from yesterday.
Superman would have perhaps rescued more people and I dearly wish it could have been a single known enemy like Lex luthor, unfortunately wishes aren't horses. It is heartbreaking especially since I have close connections to Mumbai and more than that sad. It makes me home-sick and very very confused. I have been reading these two books "Maximum city" and "India" the latter by Shashi Tharoor. MAximum city was eerie. It deals with the '93 bombings and the author Sukethu Mehta takes us on a journey into the slum areas, police interrogations, Muslim areas and basically describes how things work. The horrifying part is people actually know what is going on. I could visualise in my mind, so this person would have arranged for the bomb, and this person could have known it and this officer will talk about investigations and so on. It was chilling to say the least and the book is damn good.
India on the other hand basically deals with everything that is India. its religion, caste, ethinicity, language. This is the point he makes and it was true. Even though there is a base board of patriotism in each of us, given the way we live our lives and the way we have been divided. we think of ourselves in terms of our immediate area first, like for example a hindu malayalee nair would think of himself first as a Hindu and a Keralite, then a nair and then maybe in the end an Indian, and in a way he is perhaps true, Bombay seems so far when I look at it from the deep south, it seems like this whole other country. It is not said in a degrading way mind you, he is just trying to explain why we are who we are. This is how he sees it, every nation in the world has somthing common that binds them, Most Europena countries are majority Christians speaking English, and the nationalities have a common language. But we are not a single nation, we are nation of Pluralities and in a way that is what is what makes us unique and helps us stand out from the crowd.
I guess I am more curious to learn about my country since I feel by readin about it I can still feel connected and probably understand it better. Truth is I don't think I ever can. India is too deep, too enigmatic and far too complex to be understood by reading books, to know India you will have to feel it, be there and be amongst its people to know why inspite of seven bombings, one major flood and countless bandh, a state is still able to pick itself up and go about their lives. Is it a testament to their resolve to not be bogged down, or is it a familiarity with the situation tha they no longer fear it or are bothered by it. Being the optimist I am I will say the former. I like to believe in the spirit of the people and in their obsitancy to walk striaght and with our head held high. I read and article in rediff about how one man was comparing the 9/11 and the people's reaction and the way the authorities reacted. He was angry at why India was silent and why we were not turning up the heat. He was angry at our cowardly behaviour. This is my answer to him. India is not a cowardly country, we are far more brave, we have weathered far more troubled waters and experience has taught us to be patient and not blindly rampage nations. We are the land of the tiger, not the wounded bull. Try putting in 14 million people each speaking a different language,7 very crowded train, a rain storm and you will know the enormity of the situation. It is not easy being India, it takes great courage, greater patience. We don't condemn people beacuse they sing the national anthem in different languages, we are the more tolerant variety. I am proud to be an Indian. We might have the lousiest bureaucracy, the most corrupt politicians, the unreliable goverment services and police. But there is no place on earth like India. Mera Barath Mahaan.
I hope Bombay recoveres soon.