Manchester is a place close to my heart for its dynamic energy and vivacious way of life! The city has its own unique character.
(Pics Courtesy: visitmanchester.com)
I studied there at Manchester Business School and that is the first place in the world, where I saw daylight last up to 11 pm ever in my life, and also discovered what the word “blinds” actually meant. The light just won’t go out in the sky in the summer of 2002, and only when I drew the blinds did I feel night at last. It had become a daily routine to go walking from the School to the city, visit a pub, the more ambitious did pub crawling and then return to the night within the blinds.
My first introduction to British Theatre was at Manchester. Miss Saigon and The King and I, were the two plays I remember having seen at one of those theatres, of which we had read about, with powdered ladies dressed in their finery, armed with their snuff boxes and binoculars. The plays were staged fabulously and left an imprint on the soul! Never on earth could imagine that a helicopter could actually land on stage and the stage move so quickly to change the scene. The direction was technically sound.
Ah, yes, football, the passion of the city. It seemed that all the world was either united behind Manchester United or Manchester City!
Sad day in life to hear of the suicide bomber attack on May 22nd 2017 in Manchester Arena, Europe’s largest indoor theatre. A place where almost 21,000 people had gathered to hear the American singer Ariana Grande, became a scene of blood, shock, broken limbs and pale death. 22 people were amongst those killed and some 59 other injured, when Salman Abedi, a suicide bomber blew himself up in the foyer of the theatre. He detonated a home-made bomb at 10.30 p.m. on Monday 22nd May at the theatre. Born of emigrated Libyan parents, he brought death to many innocent people who were not even remotely connected to any cause he was pursuing.
(Courtesy: The Telegraph, UK)
News Coverage in India
(The Times Global pg 24 dated May 24, 2017)
Ariana, had just finished the last song and it seems to me that the suicide bomber realizing that the audience would now walk out detonated himself in the foyer as unsuspecting happy people walked out after the evening performance. Manchester is a lively city and citizens are fond of football, theatre, music concerts, and pubs! Ariana, shell shocked after the attack, said she was “Broken. From the bottom of my heart I am so sorry. I don’t have words.”
(TOI, pg 24 May 24, 2017)
Today, I want the entire world to see the smiling face and eyes of Saffie Rose Roussos, aged eight, and feel the pain of the death of this beautiful promise of life !
(Courtesy: The Telegraph, UK)
Who would become the cause of death of an innocent flower like this? We cannot anymore allow madmen amongst our politicians, so-called religious leaders, cadres of terrorist organizations and the hooligans of society to take away the life of the beautiful people of this world. They might have issues of their own evil mind’s making. Why should the people of the world continue to die because one man’s madness thinks of other philosophies, ways of life and other cultures as abominable to his thought? Why should any political or religious fanatic leader be allowed to preside and promote mayhems and bombings to ensure his grip on his own followers? Why should organizations like IS exist even for one more day?
Plato says, ” No wealth can ever make a bad man at peace with himself.” My question is why should an entire humanity suffer because of some bad men who have migrated their way to top positions of power and are controlling nations, cadres and organizations as the case might be? The people’s will is supreme and a handful of liars and fanatics should not get away with murder.
Don’t we need more James Bond 007s in real life now than on the screen? Only Bond can save the world now from an apocalypse ! Seriously, M should recruit more James Bond Agents to scour the world and stop such happenings, because the sophisticated Yards and Bureaus are failing again and again.
It seems that our intelligence systems need a relook and a determined, dedicated leadership to prevent any such tragedy from striking at the core of humanity. Why do our intelligence agencies fail to sense such lurking attacks even though armed with latest technological gadgets and eavesdropping systems? Why should innocent people die in such gruesome manner while they are doing nothing, but just celebrating the beauty of life ?
Prayer Meeting at St. Ann’s Square, Manchester, UK (Photograph from Internet)
For those who have not seen the video clips of the Manchester Arena suicide bombing attack I am giving the links below:
(ABC News Special Report)
(The Telegraph)
I am sorry to place on record that even after the world has seen the ugliest face of terrorism it is not one on terrorism. The Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism is still at the proposal level after two decades !
“The Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism is a proposed treaty which intends to criminalize all[citation needed] forms of international terrorism and deny terrorists, their financiers and supporters access to funds, arms, and safe havens. The negotiations for this treaty are currently[when?] under way has been[clarification needed] under negotiation at the United Nations General Assembly‘s Ad Hoc Committee established by Resolution 51/210 of 17 December 1996 on Terrorism and the United Nations General Assembly Sixth Committee (Legal). The negotiations are currently deadlocked even after two decades of proposal i.e. through 1996 till 2016.
Although consensus eludes towards adoption of the terrorism convention, but discussions have yielded three separate protocols that aim to tackle terrorism: International Convention for the Suppression of Terrorist Bombings, adopted on 15 December 1997; International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism, adopted on 9 December 1999; and International Convention for the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism, adopted on 13 April 2005.” (Wikipedia:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comprehensive_Convention_on_International_Terrorism)
Bodies have bled to death; hearts continue to bleed…
How long ?