Terrorist: 'Run, it’s a gesture!'

What is it with these gestures? A recent ‘report’ (one of those where there’s not much reporting) was about how the Bollywood fraternity did not celebrate Eid (on Dec 9) and chose to wear black arm-bands to condemn the Mumbai blasts. Now, me being the cynic that I am, have my doubts if the terrorist organizations have read about this daring gesture and have become so demoralized that they have planned to blow themselves up. Unlikely, I feel, though Dia Mirza might disagree, who’s quoted in the ‘report’ saying that her band will “give out a token signal against polarization in the nation.” Wow, I don’t think I understand such complex jargon…well, as long as she does.

The only one person speaking with a characteristic measure of sanity in the whole thing was Naseerduddin Shah, who said that the problem with such gestures is that we think we’ve done our bit.
Candle-light marches, rallies, protests, arm-bands…does it really help? Well, maybe it would, if we had a government that would feel the need to react to them and show some proactive measures. But, well, an imbecile Shivraj Patil resigned only for Chidambaram’s ‘shoe-filling’ party to be actually celebrated by party members! Wow! Doesn’t that call for celebration!
It’s like pelting a rhino with stones – the skin is too thick! Did you see Manmohan Singh’s speech after the Mumbai blasts – you couldn’t tell if it was the fear that his residence would be blown up next, or if Sonia Gandhi had just woken him up, and forced him to give a speech before he was able to brush his teeth… I strained to catch a tone or look of passion…none! I’m sure I’ve seen the quiet-Surd doing the fist in the air for the pre-election rallies! What was the point of the speech then, Mr President? Token of hope or a gesture that said, “Ok, I’ve done my job…condemned them…what else do you want me to do? I can’t catch them, can’t kill them, can’t equip our forces any better. I can’t, alright…now, let me brush my teeth.”
Pratibha Patil was for once better (and that’s saying something). She at least looked fully awake, and had actually some perk about her. I wondered if she’s used the brand of shampoo that a friend gifted me (Tea Tingle; It will make you jump out of bed…). She “strongly condemned” the terror-attacks and looked proud of herself for having done so…Oh gosh, poor terrorists, how they would run if they could see her.
So, where does that leave us? Trapped between the insanity of gun-toting brainwashed zealots and the even more frustrating theatre of politicians and celebrities waving their precious petty little gesture-flags and arm-bands? Give us something to wave too…