Riots are no fun. Not for the people who are rioting, nor for the people who are stuck in them and definitely not for the people who are trying to control them.
Sadly, riots do happen.
Like the one that happened today. Oh yes, I saw it happen, from a rather unsafe place that happens to be my home.
It was not a pretty sight.
On the first look, you get this feeling that suddenly there's an urgency amongst the crowd that was assembled. Then suddenly, there's this rush…people running from here to there in such a hurry that they forget their footwear behind. There's a lot of screaming. Mostly women and children.
Then, if things get bad, like they did today, there are gunshots.
A gunshot has amazing potential to silence a crowd, if only for a few seconds.
Today, just one wasn't enough, there were many. Too bad them bullets got some one this time and hell broke loose.
The crowd just erupted, as if someone has set a match to a bee-hive.
People started throwing everything they could lay their hands off. Most of the time, they just hurt themselves.
It's hard to aim properly when you're scared of the guns, the noise and the screaming mob that you are now a part of.
The anger soon subsides, and an urge to get to safety takes over, and again there is a wild race with no body getting anywhere, especially the children.
The cops arrive, along with the news crew. The injured are taken to the hospital. Let us hope no one dies or they'll be a fresh riot again.
A curfew is imposed and the streets are empty.
It's just a confused mass of chappals lying abandoned on the street that remind you of what happened.
And the silence.
