Remembering the Dead

Crimes are often imbued with local flavours. Being in a multicultural London, one is sure to hear country-specific horror stories that one wonders at, and cataloguing them under the ‘exotic’ category. But you don’t need to look into the sad depths of a Cumbrian’s eyes to empathise and sympathise with what Derrick Bird has left in his wake.

Whitehaven is reeling. As one walks through the alleys and cobbled streets of this quaint town and talks to the friendly folks, the shock and disbelief is palpable on every face. Looking back and remembering that look, I feel a deeper connection with their grief than that of just an international journalist in Britain. The horrors unleashed by Derrick Bird’s guns might have been unprecedented in recent history, and unlike any seen in this picturesque region, but the damage done touches a universal nerve.

When terrorists sprayed bullets on hapless citizens of Mumbai in 2008, the world watched in shocked horror. One is always numbed in disbelief when a human being opens blind fire in such an indiscriminate manner. The sorrow and disbelief of Mumbai and India coursed through my head as I interviewed friends of Bird’s victims.

A restaurateur expressed his shock at his best friend Rewcastle’s death in a few words, though his hollow eyes spoke volumes. Disbelief, shock, grief and a profound sadness nestled in the creased face of a kind man in Rowrah who talked to me when everyone else turned away (no doubt, harassed to no end by the world media). “What happened was bad enough, I have nothing to say about it,” the old man said, taking pity on my desperate attempts to get information out of a grieving society.

USA is the record-holder in gun killings, with at least 10 nefarious gun attacks in the last half century. Britain’s has had its share of gun killing sprees. But all of us who live with a conscience can feel the pain when a crazed person turns a gun on his people.