Would the world be a better place if we, for once, stopped emphasizing how we were different from ‘other people’ and instead, started celebrating our similarities? What if our opinions of others were not based on a single, cliched’, story we had heard about them? What if we realized how our ignorance slowly gives way to disrespect, suspicion, fear and hatred and made a conscious effort to give love and peace a chance? Adichie proposes a beautiful means - by hearing others’ stories and sharing our own!
They were people like us – like you and me. It wouldn’t be hard to stand in their shoes and imagine oneself in the midst of those moments – just before the blast – a bunch of youngsters, friends, celebrating the simple joys of life – a promotion at work, a friend visiting from another city or perhaps just a weekend… It could have been any of us. It could still be any of us tomorrow!
Munish, a friend who works in Pune, while trying to pen his feelings in his blog, says, ”I don’t want to write more”. I completely understand him! His post carries pictures of the (erstwhile) German Bakery. Pictures that are wonderful and scary at the same time!
As my heart swells for these five young people and others who lost their lives and for their loved ones, I realize that of late, I have been getting angry at and have been ‘hating’ a lot of people. The Pakistani terrorists and the government, the Thackreys and the Shiv Sainiks, the VHP and the Bajrang-Dal…
But today I don’t want to hate anyone. I don’t want to be angry. I don’t want to fight. And I don’t want anyone to hate me for any reason. If at all possible, I want to lose all my identities – I don’t want to be a ‘Hindu’. I don’t want to be a ‘Delhite’ or a ‘Hyderabadi’. I don’t even want to be an ‘Indian’.
Is there a place where a group of friends, who mean no harm to anyone in the world, can devour and relish life over a cup of coffee and be sure that it won’t be their last?
This piece has been accepted and published in the January 2010 issue of Cerebration.org (Am I happy ). To respect the publishing policies of the webzine, I am deleting the article here. The same can be accessed here.
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). To respect the publishing policies of the webzine, I am deleting the article here. The same can be accessed 
