Sunday, July 18, 2010

A touching memorial

I went as did my wife to the memorial. Neither of us knew Dr. Divyendu Sinha, nor had we seen him before. But we went, for, it could very well have been either of us, or YOU the reader. After all, Dr. Sinha was brutally killed by five teenagers right on his street in Old Bridge, NJ and right in front of his wife and children when the family was taking a walk. For just fun or some gang initiation or because he was brown, no one seems to know yet.

We were a bit late and I got worried that parking would be a problem. But thankfully, it was not.
Or should I say thankfully? A graffiti on a synagogue would have filled up the football field in the Old Bridge High School but the murder of an Indian brings but a few hundred. Indian? Aren't we, after all, Bengalis, Tamilians, Telugus, Malayalees, Gujaratis, ... ? I thought I knew a good 400 Indian families in Central Jersey alone but could recognize only three faces in the assembly. Let me hope they came and left early before me. Otherwise, I must dread at the thought that unless we learn to show a large presence at such important gatherings, we will be easy victims, and police and law enforcement will take the easy way out and not seek full justice as we would like them to. But that is a different matter.

There was a large portrait of Dr. Sinha. Obviously he was a very kind and harmless man with a scholarly and kind countenance. A number of people sang Bhajans in a soothing voice cultured in Hindustani. They asked for only little: shanti (peace) and forgiveness for one's lapses. The speeches that followed were short and the tributes genuine and heart wrenching. The FIA
(Federation of Indian Associations) president noted that their inquiry had found that many complaints had been made to school authorities and police in Old Bridge during the previous year by community members but no action was taken. They called for action and said they are watching. The town council, mayor, school board members all came and said sweet things. But like the FIA president asked: what are they really going to do?

That aside what are we going to do? Let us just hope that there is no next time.