What will it take for the powers that be to wake up?

I haven't written here in a while and its a reflection on the sorry state of affairs that the previous post too was at the time of a terrorist attack.

The last time I wondered where we are headed. This time round I'm just plain frustrated. How does a corrupt nation fight anything? Apparently the terrorists came into Mumbai view the sea and guess why they weren't apprehended at any point? Because surprise, surprise, they used a route frequently used for smuggling by our most famous underworld don, Mr. D and God knows how many pockets he's lined to look the other way. So, what were we left with? A route that is not supervised that anyone with the brains of a 5 yr old could misuse.

Siiigh......

What can we do besides protesting, I thought. Besides discussing things to death and blaming all and sundry - from our politicians to our border forces?

I thought that we could, each of us learn to be more observant, cautious. More active citizens. But then again......

In Kolkata on the second night of the Mumbai mess, residents of a middle class apartment noticed that a bulky black bag had been lying unclaimed at one corner of a staircase. After several hours, they started getting concerned and finally at night they alerted the local poilce. One solitary cop turned up at 10 pm, grumbling loudly about being "disturbed" at that hour... about how people could make a "fuss over nothing", picked up the bag and sauntered back.

So tell me, fellow citizens, how are we to fight this apathy in our nation where even as one city roils in turmoil another one is asleep???????