Shock

As I sit and blog this, I am numb. As most of you know by now, gunmen opened fire in IISc Bangalore and wounded 4 and killed 1. The person gunned down was someone I saw every single day all through 1997-2000. He was a professor at IIT Delhi, where I studied, in my department. He taught half a course I took, and we passed his room every single day on our way to classes. Like most professors, he would always be engrossed in studying and truth be told, he was not a star like some of our other profs, just a quiet, decent, upright, nice, serious person and one of the most loved professors in the department. I'm still numb. I don't understand the madness and terrorism and senseless killing. I don't understand why innocent lives are snatched. How can anyone justify this? How? The good professor will be mourned by our institute, his students and colleagues. I wish his family strength. I don't even want to imagine what they are going through.

My father is a scientist as well, and a lot of my friends are into academics. It could have happened to anyone. As I sit and try and make sense of the horror, I feel unsafe. Terrorism in India makes no sense. What ends are they trying to achieve? This is the second person I know directly affected by terrorism and to me still it makes no sense. I'm angry now and feeling helpless.

Today I posted a nostalgic post on my childhood. I was raised on an idyllic IIT campus, or so I thought. It was the best childhood ever. Now, I don't know what things will be like in the future. Will any place ever be safe? Can any child really play without fear and be free to roam and explore without any sense of impending danger? I feel shaken to the core.