A terrible disconnect

I was on a flight to Kolkata and it was when we landed at the airport at 9.30 pm that I heard of the bomb blast in Pune.u00a0My first reaction was -- it can't be!

I don't know why, but I always had a feeling that terror attacks just couldn't happen in Pune. I considered Pune to be a laid-back, peaceful town where neither communal events nor any natural calamities happened... it seemed to be a haven -- a peaceful, protected place. That feeling was completely taken away from me...
My band members were with me and, after we reached the hotel in Kolkata, we were glued to the TV set, watching the news. Needless to say, like everyone else, I was shocked and disturbed that such a thing had happened in my city. When such things happen, my initial emotion is anger, but it was also really upsetting to see the faces of those kids from Kolkata who died in the blast.

We called all our friends (as German Bakery was one of our favourite haunts) and there was a sense of relief that no one we knew was injured. You tend to distance yourself from such a situation. You feel -- my city, my people are not affected. This disconnect is terrible.

Today, we talk about disharmony across the world. Most Indians live a hand-to-mouth existence and have to work on a daily basis to survive. Even after 26/11, the never-say-die spirit of Mumbai kicked in fast but if you ask me, people have no choice. If they don't work, they cannot eat. It's sad that today, we rarely think about what we can do for society or how we can make a difference. Even if it's voting, how many of us actually vote? (All of us in the band had, incidentally.) But, besides voting, what is it that the common man can do? As a musician, I can write a song to influence the youth, and when we are up on stage we do appear larger than life.

My 8-year-old son asked me, "Why do they plant bombs in such places?" And I didn't have an answer! Do I say that they are bad or that they are fighting for something?

We're living in times when there's disharmony. I feel some training, some preparedness should be included in the education system.u00a0 Maybe things like awareness about what we should do in medical emergencies. We should not be oblivious to the Taliban, Afghanistan, US and even the attacks in Bengal. We should learn to understand the gravity of these situations. We should not accept things as they are but know that certain things should be condemned. Let me tell you, I'm secular to the core. The band members that I work with are from different communities. We only look at the final product, which is the song.

I feel that our reactions are too mild, too subdued, and this upsets me. There should be tangible action form the government and thereu00a0 should be a show of unity and strength from us. I would wish for a world where there are no more terror attack. But I don't know if it's realistic to wish like that any more... I wish I knew... I wish I hadu00a0 a few answers...
(As told to Shree Lahiri)