I wish...

Remember the times we were the most care free people on earth. The times when the biggest tension in life would be to win beyblade and UNO matches, the utmost sorrow to miss our favorite cartoon show and all problems in life would be solved with a chocolate or a new cassette of video games.

But, then we had to grow up to be adults to see other kids enjoy the best time of their lives. And, while they complain about it being the worst part, you could pat them and say with a smile, “this is the best thing… You will understand when you grow up.” 

All that remains of the happy go lucky phase of our lives are, the fond time less memories. No matter how old you grow or how troublesome your life is, they will always bring a smile on your face. 

We only wish that we could re live those times. We only wish that life remained uncomplicated, and fear free.

I wish that our problems could be solved with chocolates or cartoons.

I wish problems in the world could be solved by applying filters to your profile pictures.

It was not easy to give up the comfort of our childhood and be an adult. But since we had to, why not be a responsible and a reasonable one. Why not be the adult who lets the children be innocent and care free, and let them gather some memories that would make them happy later in life.

Turn the wheels of the clock and go back to the best time of our lives. All that we see is the little us, happy, playful, annoying, innocent. Now, imagine if suddenly you hear gun shots, bombing. You see blood everywhere, and the friend you played with yesterday isn’t there anymore.  Probably you will never meet him again. 

Next day, comes your turn to leave. No idea where you are going. Wherever you are going, this isn’t going to be the holiday that your parents told you about. The best thing you can ask for at this moment is to be with your parents, wherever you reach.

While all this is going on with you, somewhere, someone in a distant land, sitting in the comfort of their room, just applied a filter on their profile picture or updated a status to support you, or they just found your friend lying lifeless on some country’s border and the photo is going viral all over the net.  Do you even know what being "life less" is?

That’s exactly what is happening right now. Just because we are safe at home now, doesn’t mean we will be safe tomorrow. While we would be acting dead to escape from being shot by terrorists, some one would be hash tagging and posting prayers.

These terrorists haven’t invaded us one fine morning from another planet. They are people like us. Look exactly the same and have the exact same features. He can be the one standing beside you at a party or someone you sit beside every day in the office.

Yes, they are hugely driven by their motives. But, they also gain a lot from it. Probably they are the ones who had gone through a troubled child hood because of their religion or caste and they don’t feel at home in their own country. They might be getting some advantage out of it. Maybe their family’s security is guaranteed, or they are getting their needs full filled.

Whatever it is, the non-state actors have managed to offer them what they longed for, and what the state has failed to.

This shouldn’t be a surprise. Our politicians make more money than our soldiers. We have a tax hike every year. We had one recently too, for “swachh bharat abhiyan”.  Yes, sure we need to fund that. After all, there has to be enough fund to clean the streets after people are shot, right? 

Why should we pay the army, because they risk their life? Its there job! They signed up for it!!

What are we doing? Changing filters??

The recruitment for these terrorist groups happen from the youth. Someone who had never got their share of justice, or was neglected by their own state might just have signed up to join them today. People who have lost their faith in their country can only act against it.

Stop counting lives in numbers every day. When a person dies everyone around them suffer. When an innocent is killed, the whole humanity dies with it.

Yes, it is very difficult to stop this. At this stage it feels next to impossible.

But, did we forget we are responsible adults now. No matter how bad I do in my life, something that I have learnt from my 2 years of adulthood is, “Things don’t come easy, you have to work hard towards it”.

May all the souls of the victims rest in peace. I am sorry, that you had to pay such a huge price.