Death and All His Friends.

I have been working long hours for the last few weeks; weekdays have melded into weekends, and days into nights. Even though I enjoy the work, it is mentally very tiring and makes even the smallest irritants stand out as significant. So when this past Monday, it was reported in a news paper that my workplace had received a credible terrorist threat, the management, quick to action, enhanced the already stringent security procedures, to pacify employees and clients.

Now the check in, which already took a few minutes of my time every morning, became a chore. And it was to be repeated every time one re-entered a building. Dog squads combed the floor in work hours trying to find misplaced explosives or hidden food in employee lockers. Floors were manned with security guards, who would request your id at every turn and then proceed to match the photo to face. I, for one, have lost a few pounds since I last weighed in, and the photo in the id is ages old. So, it takes a few seconds or more for the security personnel to match the two images. And they are just doing their jobs. But imagine that happening to you a dozen times a day, and not unlike me, you would also find yourself on the edge more oft then not.

See, I am not saying that the discomforts caused by such measures aren’t worth the price you pay for security. They are every bit so if they can deter or prevent something dastardly from happening. And security being intrusive or exasperating is mostly a non issue in a country where privacy is worth absolutely nothing. But it has led me to introspect a bit on terrorism and what it means to us.

I think that even with all the security measures in place, it would unlikely be able to prevent an act of terrorism if someone was so inclined. If you just take a look at the logistics involved, it seems a daunting task. If someone has decided that his or her life is worth nothing anymore and is ready to blow up everything around, there is precious little anyone can do. If the security measures seem daunting, they may just change the scene and find a softer target. The methods will be the same; the effects will be the same as well. Terrorism is a random vicious act. No one knows where and what will be the next target, because there are so many, and only so much can be made secure. It has become after a fashion, a fact of life. We are slowly getting desensitized to the heinous acts; a common man’s life just isn’t worth that much anymore. We can predict the next victims with as much certainty as the next road accident.

Then how should we react to such acts. What of the terrorists in our custody? Should we mete out as we receive? Or should we act in an even more barbaric manner, maybe bring out something from the good old middle ages, a guillotine, a public hanging, or something even worse? Maybe it would put fear in the hearts of would be transgressors? Maybe that would stop such atrocities? The recent verdict on Kasab brought out loud cheers; Even my barometer of Facebook statuses, was filled with congratulatory messages for the Indian justice system.

But should that be the response of a balanced civil society? Is it for us to decide who lives and who dies? And what does that makes us? Are we any better than those who seek to destroy us? Better still will it even deter a single person from picking up a suicide vest? They are anyhow prepared to give up their lives, how does it matter to them if it happens immediately or a few months down the line?

I will be straight here, I don’t believe modern terrorism is something that can be argued with, we cannot win hearts and minds, and we cannot win this fight because the battle is fought on uneven grounds. The best we can do is to try and prevent other acts from happening, and in the meanwhile bunker down, like England did in the Second World War against Germany. To hold our ground and see this phase through and in the meantime to sort out our domestic issues and imbalances as best possible, so as to not provide a fertile ground for new recruits. Terrorism has become homogenized into present day society, the security measures are a fact of life and so are the random acts of violence.

PS: I know a lot of you will have strongly differing opinions from mine and one of the objectives of my post was to raise as many points of view on the issue as possible. Please be forthcoming with your comments. But also know that I didn’t mean to be rude or insensitive to the victims of terrorism and I believe nobody can truly share their pain.