Today at 5:30 25-year-old Mohammad Ajmal Kasab was hung in India for his part in the November 2008 attack in Mumbai in which 166 people were killed. India feels that day keenly. It is imprinted within their national identity like September 11th on an American. Kasab was hung and we were informed if you so desired you could watch the capitol punishment take place on television.
TELEVISION!! Everyone could watch this event? It heralded back to days in old school London where hangings were community affairs. (read The Great Train Robbery if true crime in British history appeals to you, excellent story) However this was NOT TRUE it was not a public execution. You could just watch everything leading up to the affair and photos afterwards.
There was a sense of holiday in one man's take on the event, the hanging. A sense of justice. It feels heavy to me. What do I actually believe about capital punishment? What do you believe? What did Jesus say? Does the eye for an eye apply here because it is different or in Kasab's case should there be pardon, grace as one farmer from his village in Pakistan declares should be given. Would Jesus have said, "Forgive." Would I be willing to forgive? Who is in my life right now that I would like to see hung? What is in my heart that needs to change, to whom do I need to extend forgiveness?
Life is no picnic, no walk in the park, no holiday at the sea shore, it is messy, sad and sin sapped.
It felt heavy to find out at 6 pm as we saw someone else's television that at 5:30 a nation had been privy to a hanging, or so we were told. Though that did not actually happen every other detail was carefully covered.
On a lighter note......
On our way home we passed an outdoor restaurant, where free diesel fumes act as appetizers, called Gargan Picknik.
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