Today was yesterday, okay?

I find our obsession with all things Western quite disgusting. We have begun to look at life through their vision. This is not to lessen the tragedy that took place on this date, but how many of them will remember what befell other societies?

There is nothing new to say, so here is an old post...

9/11: Why should I remember this date?

Where were you when the Partition of India happened?

Where were you during the Bangladesh War?

Where were you when Indira Gandhi was assassinated?

Where were you when Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto was executed?

Where were you when the anti-Sikh pogrom took place?

Where were you when Rajiv Gandhi was killed by a suicide bomber?

Where were you when parts of Eastern Europe were being spliced?

Where were you when the Gujarat earthquake happened?

Where were you when the Bombay riots of 1992-93 took place?

Where were you when the Bombay blasts happened soon after?

Where were you when Godhra happened?

Where were you when the Gujarat riots were taking place?

Where were you when Iraq and Iran went to war and stayed that way for eight years?

Where were you when the Gulf War happened?

Where were you during Operation Desert Storm?

Where were you when the US started bombing Afghan civilians to look for a man in a cave?

Where were you when America attacked Iraq to look

for weapons that they have not yet found?

Where were you when Kargil happened?

Where were you when the recent blasts happened in India?

There are so many reasons to know where we were…and these queries are not posed to you. For, even I do not know where I was when most of these disasters/calamities took place. So I do not know where I was when 9/11 happened.

But you are supposed to know. The media in our subcontinent will remind you because they cannot feel left out. People who do not want you to think about other societies would also think this is important enough to recall.

I can understand those who live in the US/Canada having vivid memories; or those who have relatives there being worried, but I do not see why that date should become a part of our local psyche. To be concerned about the new world order, terrorism, religion and politics is of course important, but to deify a date?

Therefore, I wonder if those living overseas could check with the Americans and the Brits if they recall any of the incidents I have mentioned. Do they know where they were – do they even know that such places exist?

If we wish to talk about a world where equality must reign, then knowledge of other societies is a great equaliser.