At 11.45 a.m. last Thursday India trembled, and a few gunshots and dead bodies later, India sighed. Those moments could have been very different, they could have changed the destiny of this country, like what 9/11 had done to America, but more politically devastating. That didn't happen. But the pre-noon terrorist strike at the Parliament House was another warning, another realisation, another reminder of the truth: the Republic is under attack. The terrorists, suicide bombers most probably, aimed at the highest temple of Indian democracy-the Parliament House. The session, albeit unruly, was on. Those who tried, and nearly succeeded, in shaking India had got their target-symbolism right. Now it is for India to comprehend the enormity of the danger: the nation is in the line of fire.

This is not the moment for finger-pointing, recriminations and one-upmanship-familiar traits of our political culture-even if the assault on the highly protected Parliament complex has exposed possible vulnerabilities, especially at a time when India, along with the US, Britain and Israel, is a prime target of radical Islamism. It is the moment for shedding the legendary Indian complacency. What the moment calls for is: wake up and defend, for someone is out there to deform you, to humiliate you. The enemies have nothing to lose but themselves, for their act is born out of blind fanaticism; but the country has a lot to preserve-its national will, its honour and freedom, characteristics that the new enemy of civilisation finds incompatible with its prehistoric make-believe, the realisation of which seems to require raw material from the wreckage of freedom and democracy.

The enemy has crossed the threshold-and how. The intimations have been there, in varying degrees of terror. October 1 was the last, when suicide bombers blasted their way into the assembly complex in Srinagar. That day-the differences were only in dramatics and size-the theme was an extension of September 11. Today as 9/11 rhymes with India's 12/13, the day of infamy should be a day of awakening as well. The madness of misplaced martyrdom can never be a match for the rage of a nation scarred but still strong. Does India have any other choice?