Emotion-filled SMSes

Desaraju Surya
Hyderabad: The Mumbai terror strikes have stirred a range of emotions among Indians. There was deep anguish, concern, anger and, of course, contempt. There also was mockery and a certain indifference in the pent up feelings. A string of SMSes that filled the inboxes of mobile phones in the last two days have carried these emotions across the nation. The tone of these short messages was loud and clear: hang the likes of Afzal Guru and put down terror with an iron hand. "Forgiving a terrorist should be left to God. But fixing their appointment with God is entirely our responsibility," read one short message which had a by-line Indian Army. This was an obvious reference to Afzal Guru, the key accused who was awarded death penalty by the Supreme Court in the attack on Parliament case. Another said: "We salute the brave officers who laid down their lives in protecting us and our country, including Hemant Karkare, Ashok Kamte and Vijay Salaskar. "Yet another SMS urged people to pray for the people who lost their lives in the terrorist attacks in Mumbai. "Vote properly to make this country worth dying for," read a terse message that was ostensibly kept in circulation by police officials. In what clearly reflected the pent up feelings of the majority people in the country, one SMS contained mock anger: "Divine justice! 2004: Jayendra Saraswati implicated in murder case and jailed. Tsunami hit Tamil Nadu! 2008: ATS implicates Sadhu and Sadhvi in terror case. ATS chief dead!" There was one interesting message that landed in mobile phones on Friday suggesting that date 26 has turned out to be a doomsday, going by the chronology of events. "December 26-tsunami, January 26-Kutch quake, February 26-Godhra, June 26-Gujarat floods, July 26-Mumbai train blast, July 26-Ahmedabad blasts and November 26-Mumbai terror strikes." Yet another SMS that too vent the frustration and angst of many read: "Afzal ko maafi, Sadhvi ko faansi. RSS par pratibandh, SIMI se anubandh. Amarnath yatra par lagaan, Haj ke liye anudaan. Waakeyi... Mera Bharat Mahan!" One more interesting SMS: "Where is Raj Thackeray and his brave Sena? Tell him that 200 NSG commandos from Delhi, all south and north Indians, have been sent to Mumbai to fight the terrorists, so that he can sleep peacefully!"