pinoy101

The Mumbai attacks are probably the talk of the town, at any point in the globe, right now, with every international news network covering the scenes. The spotlight has shifted from the United States to India, from election hypes to terrorism. The attacks were even dubbed as 'India's 9/11'.

Probably the most famous amongst the attacks is the one carried out at the Taj Mahal tower. Youths ransacked the hotel, spraying people with rifle fires in a killing spree. The once elegant hotel, with its 'onyx columns and alabaster ceilings', famously known as the playground of the city's elites was reduced to the grave of the elites. 

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Somehow, the attack on the Taj Mahal tower had brought back into mind a similar incident in my own native land which happened a year ago, November 29 '07: The Manila Peninsula Rebellion. I know that the two are very different from each other but they also have some slight semblance. The fact that the main business district was targeted is one, hotels being attacked or used in the attack is another. The difference lie I guess in the way the situation was handled and the way the attack was staged and who staged it. 

In the Manila Pen seige, the government only worsened the situation when it tried to negotiate with the attackers. Another plus point for thes seige was the fact that it was not that much of a terrorism plot but a rebellion. The major plus point for me would be the fact that a senator of our country (who was,at time, on trial for a case of rebellion  before) led the seige. I mean, terrorism attacks have been plaguing the world for some time now, but only in the Philippines would you witness coups and rebellions on a yearly (at the least)basis, with politicians leading the way.I know plots like this are not laughing matters but in a third-world country like ours, this kind of things rouse many kinds of emotions like anger, disappointment, sadness, whatever, and some battlecries from political parties but sometimes, for ordinary people like me, whose voice is far too small to be heard and/is deliberately ignored, can't help but to just point out some humor into this kind of things, especially when the political arena in your very own country is dirtier, and much worst compared to a cockpit arena. (I am talking about the Manila Pen seige, not the Mumbai attacks. I am in no place, rightful, to comment on India and the social events happening in their country. As a citizen of my beloved country, fully conscious of the events happening around me, I can't help but to comment on the dealings and happenings and voice out my frustrations.)

The Mumbai attacks

I  just got home from school and it has been a long day. My schedule was jam-packed so I wasn't able to make my daily trip to the serials section of any library at school. I was running short on some items so I decided to go to the grocery store. When I got all the items I needed, I went to the magazines section to buy myself a copy of the daily newspaper. What greeted me shocked me out of my wits, that my hand just darted out on its own, seizing the newspaper. There on the cover of the Philippine Daily Inquirer was a posh building in flames, accentuating a jet black background, effectively conveying the grim gist of the news, with the headline, written in bold, capital, red- orange font, saying MUMBAI INFERNO. The caption said 'Five Star Nightmare...' 

At press time, 104 people were said to be dead due to the terror attacks. The other photo featured Mumbai's landmark train station littered with luggages amidst pools of blood. Hundreds have been injured and many were said to be hostaged within the Taj Mahal hotel. Foreigners, particularly Americans and Brits were said to be the primary target of the terrorist. The news and the photos have shocked me, despite the fact that the incident happened miles away from our country. But what had shocked, angered, and disappointed me more was the fact that the terrorist were mere youths, in jeans and shirts and were '25 years old at most'. Youths who were probably blinded by some vision and/or were manipulated by terrorists groups. Youths who are probably victims of some propaganda, teaching them with wrong morals and values and ingraining in them some wrong sense of justice and retribution. I know I have no right to say this kind of things or conclude things about them because I for one don't know the situation fully but I think its a safe thing to say that these youths did not do the attack nor planned it on their own. There has to be some cowards out there who were deliberately using this youths as their front. 

Some might say that the attacks are just another addition to chronicles of terrorism. But for me, this attacks say something else. The mere fact that youths were the ones who carried out some of the attacks is an indicator already of the plight that is happening to the world. This is not the first time youths were involved in some killing spree or other acts of terrorism but the rate with which the cases in which they are involved is alarmingly increasing.