Overcoming fear with faith and courage

Gulbahar S Sidhu

HORRIFYING images of the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, which took place 15 years ago, still send shivers down the spine of peace-loving citizens of India and the rest of the world. Invariably, the end result of terrorism is the overwhelming fear that pervades the minds of people.

Punjab was in the grip of militant unrest during the 1980s and the early 1990s. I was a student at Government Medical College, Patiala, and used to travel frequently to my home in Jalandhar. Buses would usually not ply after sunset; whenever they did, police personnel used to be on board. The roads would be eerily quiet.

One winter evening, I was travelling back to Patiala. Our bus was hurtling along on the last stretch from Sirhind. The driver had been instructed not to stop on the way even if someone waved at him to pick up a passenger. Almost every passenger wore a worried look as buses had been targeted by terrorists in recent weeks.

I was roused from my slumber by commotion at the rear of the bus. The conductor had, apparently, discovered a bag that was unclaimed. ‘Bhaji, keehda bag hai eh wala? Jaldi dasso ji (Whose bag is this? Please let me know quickly),’ he called out. Someone suggested that the bus must be brought to a halt and everyone should get off immediately. Someone else suggested that the bus should be taken speedily to the nearest police station, which was 5-6 km away. The worried faces became even more grim. The tension set my pulse racing. Each one of us had read about incidents of violence in newspapers. This was, perhaps, the first time that such an incident was virtually knocking on our doors. It was my first brush with terrorism. The fear was intolerable. No one knew what to do. The driver stopped the bus. ‘We could become sitting ducks,’ a co-passenger remarked. The police personnel asked all of us to get down and stand a good distance away. When all the passengers had come out in stupefied silence, someone pointed to the silhouette of a passenger on the bus. No one dared to go and bring him down. ‘What if?’ was the question that echoed in our minds. The bus driver, a middle-aged Sikh, volunteered to enter the bus. ‘Waheguru da naam le ke mein jaanda haan,’ he said.

The lone passenger was woken up and asked to come down. He looked around, rubbed his eyes, picked up the ‘suspicious’ bag and got down from the bus!

All of us heaved a sigh of relief and had a good laugh while thanking the Almighty. Indeed, fear had been the all-pervasive emotion for half an hour or so.

What finally overcame fear was the driver’s courage and his unflinching faith in the Almighty. Wasn’t this the recipe for defeating fear and getting over a crisis? We had learnt an important life lesson.

Join Whatsapp Channel of The Tribune for latest updates.

#Mumbai