The Virginia massacre

“You had a hundred billion chances and ways to have avoided today. But you decided to spill my blood. You forced me into a corner and gave me one option. The decision was yours. Now you have blood on your hands that will never wash off…”
“When the time came, I did it. I had to….”

The above lines are excerpts from the video package that Cho Seung-Hui sent to NBC News. Yes, Cho Seung-Hui, the 23-year old South Korean ,who triggered the firing at Virginia Tech last Monday. No one knows why he did this. He has made the whole affair even more enigmatic by killing himself and by expressing his feelings through such words as mentioned above. All of you must have seen his pictures in the newspapers. He looks so cruel. Wonder knows what he wanted to achieve by killing 32 honest people. And, what did he achieve anyway? He killed himself after that. News reports say that Cho was becoming increasingly violent. He had been taking medication for depression. Police are facing difficulties in finding out his motive because he was a loner. His classmates said that on the first day of a literature class last year, students went around and introduced themselves. But, when Cho’s turn came, he did not speak. The professor looked at the sign-in sheet and saw that Cho had written a question mark, where everyone else had written their names. The professor had asked him, “ Is your name ‘Question Mark’?”

Some people might say that he killed these people because they were not friendly with him. He must have been frustrated with his loneliness. Maybe, he took revenge by killing all those who had deserted him. But, my point is: Others didn’t desert him. He himself did that. Why did he not introduce himself in class that day? Why didn’t he write down his name? And, was he so lonely that he actually had to kill so many people? Cho Seung-Hui has not only triggered the deadliest campus shooting in US history, but has also revealed a very mysterious human nature. After some days, people will forget him. But, those who lost their family members will remember him forever. They will remember him as the one who killed their kin. Everyone had disliked him when he was alive. After dying, more number of people will dislike him. But, it won’t matter to him. He has cleverly escaped all these miseries by committing suicide.

Among the 32 dead people, two were Indians. Minal Panchal, the “sensitive” and “promising architect” and Professor G.V. Loganathan. I am feeling sorry for both of them…. especially for Minal. Her family must have pinned a lot of hope on her. They must have been really proud when she went to the US. Probably, they were waiting for that day when Minal would come back from the US after doing something big. But, their dreams never turned into reality because of a madman.

I just hope that the authorities do something to make the US university campuses safer. After all, students world over go there to study. My own cousin (Woodsmoke) studies at one of the universities and after this incident, we are all worried for her. May she be safe.