Reality Today

The main fear of the people of North East was that by the 20th something bad is going to happen. It was considered a lot better to be with their families even if something bad happens, at least they will be together.

The 20th has come and gone and I see no signs of violence. I am quite sure people will say the planners have postponed their ideas, but lets be realistic, a terrorist does not strike you when you are alert. So why not be alert all the time? 🙂

On a serious note, this incident is a classic example of rumours in full flow, added with media hype, mixed with social networking sites and sms tools acting as catalysts.

As far as Chennai is concerned, I went for a late night show on Sunday night also and past midnight I did see lots of fireworks going on in the center of the city, with beautiful colours lighting up the sky. Life is amazing as always in Chennai – the same level of garbage on the roads, the same level of noise pollution from cars, autos, trucks and vans, the same amount of people everywhere – yet, on crime index levels and ‘religious tolerance levels’ in India, considered as one of the safest places. (When there was the Babri Masjid demolition almost fifteen years ago, Chennai was quite peaceful and it was business as usual in this city). There is something beautiful about this place that attracts people like me to it all the time.

I hope this puts an end to all the speculation about the 20th and something wrong is going happen on 20th. I trusted that Chennai will pass this test also, and it has. Yet another reason why I love Chennai 🙂

In the final part of this series, I would like to discuss some of the effects of this incident.