Breaking News in Bombay via AP:
Seven explosions rocked Bombay’s commuter rail network during Tuesday evening’s rush hour. The blasts ripped apart train compartments and reportedly killed dozens, police and Indian media said.
Though the chaos makes it difficult to ascertain exact numbers, how many have been injured, Indiant tv reports said that “the death toll could be in the dozens.”
40 80 100 105 137 163 172 200 people have died and 300 464 700 are injured. I’m sure that before I can even update this post, one of you will comment with the latest numbers; I sincerely hope that they are not high. I know, I’m excessively idealistic, but whenever I hear “Breaking News”, “Bombs” or “Trains” or similar, I screw my eyes shut and pray for miracles.
Television images showed injured victims sprawled on train tracks, frantically dialing their cell phones. Some of the injured were being carried away from the crash site. The force of the blasts ripped doors and windows off carriages, and luggage and debris were strewn about.
Pranay Prabhakar, the spokesman for the Western Railway, confirmed that seven blasts had taken place. He said all trains had been suspended, and he appealed to the public to stay away from the city’s train stations.
Bombay, India’s financial center, and New Delhi, the capital, were reportedly on high alert. Bombay’s commuter rail network is among the most crowded in the world.
Developing… 🙁
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UPDATE # 1
Though CNN is reporting that no group has claimed responsibility, the NYT has updated the article I originally cited with the following:
The blasts appeared to have come in quick succession — a common tactic employed by Kashmiri militants that have repeatedly targeted India’s cities.
The first explosion hit the train at a railway station in the northwestern suburb of Khar, said a police officer who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.
India’s CNN-IBN television news, which had a reporter traveling on the train, said the blast took place in a first-class car as the train was moving, ripping through the compartment and killing more than a dozen people.
…All of India’s major cities were reportedly on high alert following the attacks, which came hours after a series of grenade attacks by Islamic extremists killed eight people in the main city of India’s part of Kashmir.
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UPDATE # 2
MANISH IS OKAY.
The image you see above is from Ultrabrown; his post on this horrific terrorist attack is here.
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UPDATE # 3
CNBC’s reporter phones in to update the death toll: 100.
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UPDATE # 4
The Mumbai Help blog has resources, updates and a very important reminder that blood donors are needed desperately.
If you’re not shaken to your very core by this tragedy yet, perhaps this simple quote from that site will affect you as much as it has unexpectedly moved me (every other person on my team at work is a PWCer):
I’m so sorry
harshad borgaonkar from price waterhouscooper. His i-card was found amongst the debries [link]
My prayers are with all who were lost, those who are injured, those who are fighting to literally pick up the pieces and help, those who cannot reach family and friends and everyone else who is affected by this craven, calculated attack.
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UPDATE # 5
Bloomberg.com provides new and updated totals:
India’s commercial hub, was rocked by seven explosions on trains and in commuter stations yesterday, killing at least 163 people and injuring 464 in the nation’s worst terrorist attack in 13 years. [link]
There is now a wiki for the event and instead of lashing out scornfully against India’s neighbor, please note that it was created by a Pakistani-American in California named Sabahat Ashraf (via ASATA’s mailing list). SAJA says he “helped lead similar resource (sic) during 2005 Kashmir earthquake”.
SAJA’s contribution to blast-related resources–which includes a link to SM Alum Manish Vij’s Ultrabrown— is here.
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UPDATE # 6
Via Reuters, the grim reality of the wounded city, where predictably, they are running low on hospital beds as well as blood:
“Most of the patients have received burn injuries and are suffering from severe trauma,” M.E Yeolekar, head of Sion Hospital, told Reuters.
“In my entire career as a physician, this is the second destruction I have seen of this magnitude,” he said, referring to bomb blasts in the western city in 1993 which killed 250 and wounded around 1,000 people.
On whom we are praying for:
Hundreds of relatives frantically pored over a list of dead and injured outside the hospital, a scene repeated at many other hospitals, packed with people searching for friends and relatives.
Some of the people who entered a makeshift morgue were unable to identify badly mutilated bodies.
Considering some of the uglier talk on this thread and elsewhere, it’s important to remember that Muslims died, too:
“I spoke to him 10 minutes before he died,” said Haji Mastan, sobbing uncontrollably over the death of his cousin Mukti Mahmood Darvesh, who was travelling on one of the suburban trains.
“Why did it have to end like this? He was young and he has children.”
It’s always darkest before the dawn:
In another hospital, staff constantly mopped up blood from the floor as patients were being wheeled in by the minute.
“We collected scattered limbs with our own hands and put them in bundles and sent them to hospital,” said Santosh Patil, a railway labourer, as he stretchered in a mangled body.
First person account of an attack designed for maximum carnage:
“It was a deafening sound and before anybody could realise anything the roof of the train was ripped apart,” said Mukund Thakur, who was travelling to the northern suburb of Andheri.
“People were thrown outside. I saw limbs strewn around me.”
During our lowest moments, all we have is each other:
Local people distributed food and water among hundreds of people who waited for news from their near and dear ones.
“We are trying to persuade them to have something,” Gurpreet Singh Bangar told Reuters.
“In this moment of distress and tragedy, people don’t care for food,” he said. “But everybody has to live.”
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UPDATE # 7
More from the Beeb. Some commuters never had a chance:
An eyewitness at Mahim told the BBC some of those who had jumped from the train were run over by another train coming in the opposite direction.
Others were lost in the stampede which was inevitable, considering all the panic.
What price, for a life? Nothing can truly compensate for such a staggering loss, but…
The Indian railway minister, Laloo Prasad Yadav, has announced financial help for the victims and their relatives. He said relatives of those killed will get 500,000 rupees ($11,000) each.
He has promised jobs for the victims’ relatives and said the railways would also bear treatment costs for the injured.
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UPDATE # 8
I know, it’s ten hours old, but this quote from the web chat WaPo hosted with Suketu Mehta, the author of Maximum City, almost makes me smile:
Washington, D.C.: As a former Bombay resident, I was pleasantly pleased at the way the city reacted to the bomb blast last time around. I hope the same sense will prevail this time as well — nothing defeats the terrorists more than gettting back to normal within hours of such an incident.
Every resident of the city — former or current — walks wounded today.
Suketu Mehta: Bombay is not going to be beaten down by these blasts. In 1993, the blasts killed 257 people; one of the buildings bombed was the Stock Exchange. The plotters were hoping to cripple the financial nerve center of the city. When the Stock Exchange reopened two days later, using the old manual trading system because the computers had been destroyed, it actually gained ten percent in the next two days. Just to show them.
Show ’em again.
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UPDATE # 9
Mutineer Neha reminds me to check and then change the “tolls”. At this point, 900 people are either dead or injured (200/700). Have mercy.
The number of dead in the eight near-simultaneous bombings during Tuesday evening’s rush hour in India’s financial hub has risen steadily as rescue efforts uncovered more bodies and people have succumbed to their injuries.[link]
Meanwhile, the city kept on keepin’ on and Suketu Mehta (see Update # 8) was right. As one tipster wrote about the Sensex in our News tab, “Can’t touch this”:
Following the serial bomb blasts in Mumbai yesterday, the Sensex opened marginally (nine points) lower at 10,605…Early nervousness saw the index slip to a low of 10,550. However, buying emerged at these levels and the index rebounded into the positive zone.
Unabated buying in technology and select index heavyweights saw the index surge to higher levels in the latter half of the day. The index touched a high of 10,939 – up 389 points from the day’s low. The Sensex finally ended with a gain of 3% (316 points) at 10,930.[link]
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UPDATE # 10
More, from the Guardian/AP. While people once again board trains and the city limps back to its routine, hell isn’t over for far too many Mumbaikars:
Authorities say they do not know how many missing people there are. But Indian television stations are broadcasting pictures of dozens of missing in the hopes of helping relatives locate them.
You know how everyone knows or is related to someone in NYC? Same with Bombay:
“I’ve been searching for hours. I don’t know where else to go,” he sighed.
His colleague’s family lives in the southern city of Bangalore. “His wife called me up and said she hadn’t heard from him and we’ve been searching ever since.”
Because so many hospitals are treating victims, the search is difficult, Ahir says. Making matters worse, many with lesser wounds have been sent to the city’s many small clinics because the hospitals are overflowing.
“What do I tell her when she calls again?” he asked.
I hadn’t even thought of this heartbreaking reality:
There are also victims without families.
At a suburban hospital, a small boy lies unconscious, an oxygen mask strapped to his face. No one knows who he is.
“We searched him for identification, any photographs, but there is nothing,” said volunteer Shilpa Basin. “What if he was traveling with someone and they are injured as well?”
How many children are orphans now? If he wakes up, will this little boy even know where he’s from, what his parents’ names are, who he is? Heartbreaking.
This reminds me of Lower Manhattan, after September 11:
Gandhi, a college student, said her family had spread out to various city hospitals. “We’re taking his picture and showing it to anyone – to injured people, even to relatives of victims. Maybe someone will remember seeing him and we will find him,” she said.
Another horrifying problem: how do you identify someone after something like this…
Gautam Chavan, is fearing the worst.
“I saw how the coach had exploded, if that is the state of a rail coach, what chance do people inside have?”
Scenes of badly wounded people being brought to the hospitals upset him.
“What if we can’t recognize him? What if he’s not recognizable? When will we know?” he cried.
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UPDATE # 11
Via The Hindu: Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri makes tactless remarks, which rightfully get condemned by India (and me).
External Affairs Ministry Spokesman Navtej Sarna said “no cause” could justify killing of innocent people…we find it appalling that Foreign Minister Kasuri should seek to link the blatant and inhuman act of terrorism against innocent men, women and children to so called lack of resolution of disputes between India and Pakistan”.
What did the Foreign Minister say exactly? Oh, just this:
Kasuri has said the “best way” of dealing with extremism in South Asia is to tackle “real issue” of Jammu and Kashmir.
Right, because that justifies the slaughter of innocents.
Noting that not much progress has been made on Kashmir problem, (Kasuri) said “incremental approach is good but now we must tackle real issues. And this is the best way of tackling extremism in South Asia”.
Of course it is. Kill first, talk later.
I’m linking you guys. Love and Peace. Especially now.
“it seems like everyone I know has forgotten that I’m Indian, and expects me to go about my daily business normally. Other than my family, I haven’t talked to anyone about it (no one’s asked, and its hard to bring up terrorism as a lunchtime conversation topic)”
Alone I am also struggling with this. I managed to reach my sister and her family, and they are alright. Some of my friends here know that I have family in Mumbai, but no one has called/asked after my sister, nor have they mentioned the bomb blasts. Some friends called in the evening and they did not seem very aware of what had happened in Bombay, though they said they “thought they saw something on TV”. My family here in the US has not called me to ask if my sister is Ok.
On September 11, I spent hours calling family and friends in New York (I was not living here at that time). I can’t understand this. I feel very alone and I can’t bring myself to believe no one cares but somewhere inside me I feel a little bitter about it. All I can do now is be grateful my sister is alive, and I am so sad about all those who died in this terrible event.
A couple of points:
Speculation is fine, but I think people should hold-fire with regards to the unnecessary sabre rattling until it has been confirmed exactly who is responsible for the attacks. As far as I know, so far LeT has not claimed responsibility, which leaves the possibility of several other groups being behind it (Dawood, Al-Qaeda, domestic AQ sympathisers, etc).
Personally, I don’t think incidents such as these “deny” the existence of God. They do the opposite — they confirm the persistent existence of malevolence within the human mind and heart. Unless you believe in Satan or some equivalent — which I do not, both as a personal opinion and also as a Sikh — human beings themselves are responsible for such malicious acts due to their own internal corruption, lack of empathy towards fellow people, and (quite possibly) various psychiatric issues. It would also be worthwhile to consider that God does intervene in these situations via the use of humans as instruments to fight against such terrorists, and also in the ordinary acts of kindness that people demonstrate towards each other — whether it is direct medical assistance, assisting people in locating their lost loved ones, or just providing some other kind of material and/or emotional support in such terrible times. One could even say that the acts of compassion and statements of empathy on this very blog right now are evidence of God’s hand at work and, indeed, the presence of God in everyone.
The religious basis for these atrocities is a tricky and highly controversial topic. It’s also something which has been discussed several times previously on SM. Depending on your point of view — and the terrorist concerned — I guess some jihadists will be able to interpret their faith’s scriptures and tenets in such a way as to assert that they are indeed acting according to their religion’s teachings; with others, it will be a matter of being driven by political (and/or psychiatric) motivations but cloaking this in the self-righteous garb of religion in order to justify their actions and their own internal “issues”.
All “regular” people can do at this point in time is to intervene directly to assist those in need if they are in a position to be able to do so, and to pray that God gives them the strength to overcome their adversities if others cannot help them directly.
With regards to the terrorists responsible, well I don’t believe in Hell (again, individually or theologically) — but unless they overcome their lack of spiritual awareness and, especially, their lack of compassion and empathy towards their fellow man (irrespective of the latter’s religious affiliation) during their current lifetimes, what my own religion states is that upon their deaths their souls will undergo a trial for their actions and level of spiritual “separation” from God, after which their memories will be wiped and they will be sent back to be re-born in a situation depending on the verdict. So, they will essentially undergo “extinction” as individuals. From my point of view, that is worse — and a possibly more fitting “punishment” — than any degree of torment in the afterlife.
People reap what they sow.
Go to http://www.mumbaipolice.org They have up-to-date list of dead and injured in nearby hospitals. A quick look reveals people from all religious denomination. What a cowardly act by whomever?
I decided this morning to break with the left and wrote a very angry e-mail to many of my Muslim friends (many of whom I cried and kept vigil with after the WTC), demanding to know what they thought of the Islamo-facists who they were in cahoots with who had killed my parents and that I was now considering each and every Muslim in the world to be tacitly supporting Islamo-facists (I am a Hindu, by the way).
Your parents were killed in the bomb attacks in Bombay?
Sticks and Stones and others,
We try to have a consistent hate-speech policy. In this case many of us were sleeping when “Dubai Dave” was posting his nonsense.
If you see something you think is offensive, send us an email with a link.
It is only a matter of time before this tactic is repeated in other cities. Bangalore has unfortunately had only a minor taste with the IISc attack. Hyderabad is possibly another target. There will be more hand wringing and crying, but no real action to prevent these events.
praying
The true battle of history is fought between the epicure and the Puritan – Salman Rushdie.
Well said and apt in these troubled times.
To SM Intern, You said to calm down. I understand the sentiment. But what about anti-Hindu vitriol by SpoorLam? Thats allowed? WTF? Well this is your board. I have no say in it and I dont wish to have one either. I am just pointing out.
That’s just “humor” and the other banned comments are “hate speech”…;-)
Vikram, Spoorlam is not just humor, it’s humor mocking a specific attitude and way of talking amongst some extreme elements on the Hindu right (not all Hindus). Such extreme voices do exist, and show up at SM from time to time.
If you want to discuss this further, email me offline.
The “I” could be you or I. It could be New York, Mumbai, London or Madrid. It could be humanity. It could be civilization or it could be a nation-state. It reads to me what it reads to me and I thought I’d share. It provided relief after 9/11. It is apt now.
from Leaves of Grass.
I, too, have found the coverage of the whole thing weird and distinctly underwhelming. It did make front page of many newspapers, but most have led with something else: the day of carnage in Iraq, the Israeli incursion into Lebanon, the belated American decision to adopt the Geneva convention for detainees. All significant news items, but…
On most personal blogs (at least stateside), it’s like nothing happened at all.
I don’t remember Madrid being like this. I don’t remember London being like this. Why is Bombay less? Is it somehow more terrible, or more relevant, if it happens in Europe? Is there some notion that Europeans are people like “us”?
(Yesterday an old white lady actually asked me: “Where are you people from?”)
Evidence: a sampling of newspaper front pages. Most astonishing is the number of them that lead with entirely trivial items, like some CEO resigning.
counterpoint.. canada is listening.
G&M today
The star today
(Note that the links might expire after today)
abhi, Manju
If I want to read the ‘pulse’ of the conservative blogs, I go to realclearpolitics.com. It’s probably a better site for that sort of thing, abhi. I, too, was surprised when I read that at Captain’s Quarters. A commenter quickly calls him on it, if you read the comments to the site. The more ‘nuts-and’bolts’ sites like the counterterrorism blog I linked to would not make that mistake, nor would some of the (US) military bloggers I read.
Again, very sad, and my thoughts are with those who have lost loved ones.
Yeah, but I mean countries outside India…
You’re not American or European or rich, ergo not like us, ergo nobody cares.
It’s also interesting to see how many papers lead with a large, dramatic photo (newspaper editors love those) of a wrecked Bombay train, while the actual column inches on the front-page are given over to some other, entirely unconnected issue.
The link below is a first person account of someone who survived the bomb blasts:
http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2006/07/12/stories/2006071204770900.htm
just to continue my thought from #263.
Guess who’s as resilient as ever.
In the last half-hour, the NY Times online has taken it off the front-page entirely.
Disappointing, but not entirely surprising.
Not true. They simply replaced it with a story about the ongoing investigation.
The BBC webpage had put a think black ribbon about the news, and made it take up more than the usual amount of space. They too have downsized the story now as new news is limited.
Not not true. They’ve updated since I last checked, which must have been during the window of time between the taking down of the photo and the posting of Amelia Gentleman’s article.
Anyway, you get my general point: this should be the leader, but the mainstream media doesn’t agree. And I think it would be different if the blasts had happened in Rome or Stockholm.
Here is an interesting angle of a NYTimes editor out of India and his frustration about the word “resilient”.
“it seems like everyone I know has forgotten that I’m Indian, and expects me to go about my daily business normally. Other than my family, I haven’t talked to anyone about it (no one’s asked, and its hard to bring up terrorism as a lunchtime conversation topic)”
Alone I am also struggling with this. I managed to reach my sister and her family, and they are alright. Some of my friends here know that I have family in Mumbai, but no one has called/asked after my sister, nor have they mentioned the bomb blasts. Some friends called in the evening and they did not seem very aware of what had happened in Bombay, though they said they “thought they saw something on TV”. My family here in the US has not called me to ask if my sister is Ok.
I felt the same. Nobody at work (USA) asked after me. Luckily there are a few desis I could commiserate with.
The level of on-going publicity for the blasts in the media may increase if it is confirmed that Al-Qaeda were behind them.
Good article on Washington Post But — and here’s the crux of the matter — how long can India, Indians and the Singh government withstand the constant pressure from militant groups before they have to react? By any measure of international diplomacy, they’ve already been extraordinarily patient; compare their restraint with Israel’s response to the kidnapping of its soldier or to the U.S. and Japanese responses to North Korea’s missile tests.
PS: I’m sorry to hear that Indians over in the US haven’t been getting the level of support or media coverage that they deserve in this matter. The major British news channels are covering the Bombay attacks extensively as a “lead story” and, I believe, have even had “on the ground” reports where they interview Indians in towns/areas here in the UK where there is a substantial desi population. They have also included reports on current and impending prayer gatherings for the victims in various temples around the country.
The disparity between the UK and the US may be a result of the fact that (South) Asians are the largest ethnic minority group in the UK and the cultural/social impact has been quite significant during the past 10 years or so, along with (possibly) the colonial connection.
But there is one media report out there (in Bloomberg; linked in one of the posts above) which states that LeT has claimed responsibility.
Of course, theres another report making the rounds on the news wire in which the LeT denies responsibility (the same exact report has been picked up by Reuters, DNA, and other news sources; it has been posted above).
I dont know which report to believe, but according to these people, there have been arrests of LeT agents in Delhi and Mumbai in recent weeks:
Clarification: By “country”, I was referring to the UK, not India.
Can’t agree more with the comments on lack of coverage/interest in the media. Odder yet, like some posts pointed out, is the lack of interest among the people. Perhaps, a result of the lack of coverage.
It is a little early to speculate, but going by past form, the facts point towards radical islamic groups – al qaeda or kashmiri. If the “global war on terror” is really front-and-center of the nation’s (USA) agenda, one would think this story would have gotten more interest in opinion pages, political blogs etc. I guess its really the “global war on terror – if it affects us”.
More glaring, in the articles that have been written, is the lack of understanding of India’s long history with islamic terrorism. I still remember a conversation in ’97-98, when the nature of Al Qaeda and globalized jihad were not common knowledge. An old classmate who had joined the Indian Army was telling me his patrol had encountered two militants in Kashmir. He said they were bewildered when they found out the guys were Sudanese!
So why do we care if american msm/blogs are headlining this story or not? Mumbai/India already seem to have moved on – even the trains on the affected line are running. And I have the same feeling as the author Naresh in NYT op-ed wrote about today – at least his initial gut feeling that this constant carping about the resilience or indomitable spirit of Mumbai is getting annoying. There are so many incidents of this type in India that people just shrug them and move on. It has happened recently in Ayodhya, Varanasi, Delhi and now Mumbai. It seems those attempting to terrorize Indians don’t understand that Indians as a whole are beyond this now. They have been living for so long with terrible and corrupt politicians, police, bureaucracy, media etc. that they have perhaps resigned to their fate or are just plain indifferent. Hopefully one day – and i am not holding my breath – this general blasé attitude will give way to peaceful demands of accountability.
I guess this is the price India has to pay for historically aiding and abetting terrorism in other countries like Sri Lanka. The LTTE, trained and funded by the Indian government has killed thousands by placing bombs on buses, trains and public places. Indian money went into all that. Now it is India’s turn to feel the pain that Sri Lankans have been feeling for close to 20 decades.
newbie, because what gets reported in american msm/blogs affects the understanding folks here have of the world. and these folks vote. i am working on the hypothesis that the more we understand, appreciate affairs beyond our own borders, the more likely we are to make good political choices – like voting for the right people, pressuring the inept ones etc.
Abhi,
Because that thread was closed, I’m posting it here.. din’t mean to hijack.. just to post my side of the story.. apologies..
I think you got confused with what RC said.
This is what I said
I never said anything about “Muslim extremist” comments.. Infact I’d welcome such comments. No censorships unless it ends up in personal abuse and endless cycles would be my policy…. Ofcourse it is your right to have policies that suit your blog.. I just raised a question in a “generic sense” if it is really helpful to ban one stream of ideas completely..
Yes, I have no doubt of that.
Also, if I close comments it’s for a reason. Please do not post your comments here. If you have something more to say then email me offline.
When I read Kobiyashi’s comment: don’t remember Madrid being like this. I don’t remember London being like this. Why is Bombay less? Is it somehow more terrible, or more relevant, if it happens in Europe? Is there some notion that Europeans are people like “us”?
it reminded me of an older piece from theonion.com: 15,000 Brown People Dead Somewhere November 18, 1998 | Issue 34•16
OOGA-BOOGA LAND OR WHEREVER–Relief efforts are pouring into some country someplace, where 15,000 brown people have died over the past few weeks from flooding or a hurricane or something like that. “Never have our people endured such a terrible catastrophe,” said this one dark-skinned guy who lost his entire family in the disaster of some sort. “Our God has forsaken us.” The affected nation may possibly be the same one where about 90,000 brown people died two or three years ago in that one earthquake.
How long will be just ambiguous brown people?
“I guess this is the price India has to pay for historically aiding and abetting terrorism in other countries like Sri Lanka. The LTTE, trained and funded by the Indian government has killed thousands by placing bombs on buses, trains and public places. Indian money went into all that. Now it is India’s turn to feel the pain that Sri Lankans have been feeling for close to 20 decades.”
Dude you’re totally right, India hasn’t had anything pain inducing happen within its borders in the last 20 decades. Maybe one day we’ll see the light, and add 20 syllables to our last names too.
For what is is worth, the Little Green Footballs blog devoted allons of ink to the Bombay bombings. Time for Indian/Americans to rethink their unconditional support for the deomcrats/left. Esp, If India’s security and progress holds primacy over other American domestic issue, such as, gay marriage etc for you.
http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=21493_Religion_of_Train_Bombings#comments
CNN’s Anderson Cooper is doing a good job…comprehensively covering the blasts.
Cooper did a bang-up job on his show. I started watching at 10:00 PM Central time, and was impressed with the number of people he interviewed, both in India and Indians living in the U.S., like Suketu Mehta. And even when it was a subject he was not that familiar with, he came across as being willing to learn about India without coming across as condescending.
But for those who complain about American coverage, charging them with regarding Indian life as less important than American, European, or Israeli – I again reititerate my point that since the government of India does not place a high importance on the lives of its people, you cannot expect non-Indians to do so. Indian governments do not provide adequate security, reliable infrastructure that does not wash away with each monsoon, they cannot provide safe roads or safe drinking water. With such a callous disregard for the voters, why expect foreign media to treat them with any greater concern?
Abhi, Since the earlier thread was closed I think I need to get myside clearly. (This is my last comment about the subject)
I never said that there are Muslim extremists on this board. All I said that SpoorLam’s comments were blatantly anti-Hindu and he/she lumps a lot of people togather in commenting and not just Hindutva supporters. I am not a Gujarati nor am I a practising Hindu (let alone Hindutva supporter) to get offended by SpoorLam’s comments. But I felt that he/she was pushing his/her agenda under the guise of “funny”. If people like it, thats fine.. to each their own.
I guess thats my cue to go to Sulekha, instead. Which is fine. This is your house. If you go back and check my comments, they are never anti-muslim tirades. There is a reason why I linked to the 20/20 video which George Stephonopolous created about group dynamic.
No that wasn’t a cue to you. That was a more generaly directed statement. I think your comments are fine.
Sorry I didnt see comment #288. Admins, please take off #293 I will use email to communicate on this subject if I wish to. Just so that the real discussion here doesnt get de-railed.
To the cats who are constantly monitoring the thread and picking off the rogue posts:
Not that I mind it, in fact it’s somewhat entertaining to watch yall shoot em down so quick. How does one get trained so well in this discipline? Were you working the superbowl control booth during 04? do you take shifts, ice your fingers. Inquirinig minds want to know
Skepmod: KXB made my point. There is little american media can do when our own govt. is at bottom of the pits. And its not just the govt. Somehow Indian people are patient beyond limits. They demand little from the people they elect. And what they do demand, it is for their individual short term gain. And society as a whole can go to hell. I can think of many reasons why this is but i am not sure about the principle reason why we Indians are the way we are
while the resilience and spirit of the indian people is indeed heartening, we saw it after the tsunami as well, most villages in southern india and sri lanka attempted to get back on their own feet long before others, it is also a double-edged sword. it contributes in some way to the amnesia of the global media (which already suffers from it when it comes to coverning terrorism in the non-western world, barring some exceptions like bbc), because good news or people just shrugging and getting on with their lives is not sexy enough and makes for boring news, especially when it’s happening in india and not in london, where those train bombings were covered around the clock on u.s. tv (and the same old facts were repeated over and over until new news was available).
this resilience and do-it-yourself attitude also allows the indian govt. to get off the hook time and time again. again we have the pm mouthing the same words – eloquent maybe and all this talk about standing up to terrorists is good, but when will the government practice what it preaches to its citizens? all these same predictable words after each and every terrorist attack are but an ineffective balm that soothes until the next outrage. no one wants india to behave like the u.s. or the pm to be exactly like bush, but if the indian government itself is perceived as being so soft and mild all the time, no wonder no one really pays that much attention. unfortunately india’s hands are tied. if she tries and behaves like a responsible power and continues to be as patient, her citizens suffer, if she gets belligerent or rescinds the more recent security concessions she has made, the global and domestic (of which there is no shortage) condemnation comes flooding in. i don’t see the status quo changing anytime soon. i remember people in india stoppping still for moment of silence for the world trade center victims. have we ever stopped and had a moment of silence for india’s own victims?
Americans in general are not interested in happenings in other parts of the world. London did receive a lot of coverage, and so did the tsunami. But other than that Americans have always been an insular species and not too concerned with what happens anywhere else in the world. I would love to see this change of course but am just saying.
To the extent that they can relate to the problem they have been adequately responsive. In New York there are many more cops around today and I heard a report on NPR that security is going to be tightened throughout the City in response to the Bombay attacks just as a precautionary measure. That’s more than we can hope for from their counterparts in India.
ThirtyGs, as amazingly asinine as Shafraz’s attempt at a comment was, I really wish you didn’t go here:
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Her comment spoke for itself, my friend.