Seven bombs explode in eleven minutes, slaughtering 209 innocent commuters and injuring 700 others.
The first blast went off at about 1830 local time (1300 GMT), during the rush hour. Correspondents spoke of scenes of pandemonium, with people jumping from trains and bodies flung onto tracks.
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.
The force of the blasts ripped doors and windows off carriages, and scattered luggage. Clothes and shoes were strewn along the tracks. [BBC]
Pressure cookers with 2.5kg of RDX each were placed on trains plying on the western line of the suburban (“local”) train network, which forms the backbone of the city’s transport network…All the bombs had been placed in the first-class “general” compartments (some compartments are reserved for women, called “ladies” compartments) of several trains running from Churchgate, the city-centre end of the western railway line, to the western suburbs of the city. They exploded at or in the near vicinity of the suburban railway stations of Matunga Road, Mahim, Bandra, Khar Road, Jogeshwari, Bhayandar and Borivali. [wiki]
We covered it last year, here.
Today, Uberdesi asks why only certain victims of terrorism get memorialized. Reading their post reminded me of the horrible significance of this date and I thank them for the unintended nudge.
Rahul, I suppose his line about “Indian MSM largely ignores anything related to Hindus” was a trollish third rail. My opinion is much less conspiracy-theoretic, and is outlined in comments #42 and #49 I read his comment as mirroring #42
Hypertree, thanks for the clarification. I need to figure out if I believe what you and louiecypher propose as the explanation, let me think. And when there are third rails, please don’t pronounce the entire area safe – I find it shocking 🙂
Regarding comment #7, I wasn’t clear. I was saying that there is a commonly accepted narrative that puts the Indian incidents in a similar context to Madrid, London, 9/11 etc., so I was offering an opposing viewpoint to Manju’s about why the U.S. media does not cover these incidents.
The death of white(r) people get more coverage in the American media than equally tragic (if not more) events in brownland. The tragedy in Mumbai, or Gujerat similarly gets more coverage in the Indian media than naxal deaths in Chattisgarh, or victims of terrorists (and the army OMG) in Kashmir or Assam. Are these people less brown? They are playing to the interests of the target audience.
In a similar vein, the US media covers the deaths/troubles of white Americans much more than brown Americans… Katrina was a clear example of that. Here in Philadelphia, African-American children are shot on a regular basis (we are at 400 shootings a year and rising) but their families have a terrible time getting the media to even pay attention to the problem. White kids get shot, the media’s all over it.
Absolutely. Puliogre at #17, you’re right that the problem predates Bush, but the Bush administration are champs at this stuff. I mean, Somalia? Even when US soldiers are involved, barely a blip. I think this has less to do with straight racism (though there’s no shortage of that) and more to do with which unsavory activities the administration wants the media to focus on or ignore.
I’m not in India, so I won’t try to comment on the question about the media there, but my question is: where’s the line? If you focus too much on memorializing victims of terrorism, you risk sensationalism, and providing cover for politicians to use the attack to justify just about anything. If you don’t focus on it enough, you risk being seen as ‘soft on terrorism’ or as being callous. What do you all think a proper or fitting way to cover this anniversary would be? If you were the editor of a major mainstream paper, what would you do?
fundesi, when in mumbai you will want to stay near the water, ie the west side. i heard a lot of jibberish that bombay is polluted from relatives/haters who had never been there and did not want me to go either. but the affluent parts of the city are clean by indian standards, cleaner than manhattan too. it is best to know someone before you go, otherwise it will take a little while to figure things out…obviously. i would strongly reccomend staying in the north/west part of the city, not far from the santa cruz airport since that’s the vicinity of everything good. plus unless you rent a car there will be transportation issues if you stay in the south. city train is not an option. you may want to try it once just to see how people who live there get around, but that shit is no joke….really the only good thing in the south is the taj hotel, where they have good shops (but unless you are a resident you can get better stuff from whatever country you came from), and the gateway of india. i guess marine drive, very similar to the malecon in havana, is nice also and worth seeing…….one of my favorite things about the city is the foliage. it looks spectacular….the young people with money there smoke a lot; it is really nasty…there are lots of malls and the beautiful, beautifully attired females are everywhere. for nightclubs you will want to ask around. i was given bad info on the matter by the in-flight spiceject magazine with a spicejet employee independently corroborating the issue. all i can really say is if you want to have a good time stay in the northwest…….as for goa….we went by train from punjab and it was HELL. it took 40 hours….i think the train stopped in panji, then we took a taxi north to baga beach…..the best beaches in india are in south goa and north karnatka. until recently there were fewer tourists there too, but that has changed. that is where the best hotels are too…..north goa is where most of the tourists go, between the months of november and march…..i should tell you straight away, i would never reccomend going all the way to india just to go to goa. i have been to the beaches in miami, rio, havana, and goa is very easily in last place amongst them in any of the vital categories. we were at baga beach in late april. the tourists had mostly gone home. i had promised my cousins who i was with that if there were foreigners, especially euros, that i would get it on, and they could pull out their pencils and notepads and learn something. they, especially one of them, believed, in spite of what i had told them a thousand times, that the rest of the world lives in a repressed shell also, and no one gets to home plate before marriage. the first night there was nothing. it was very dry. we met these decently hot indian girls from florida, but i overplayed my hand. it had been a long day and at the end of it, the vociferous cousin made the declaration, “now i have seen the whole world and i it is obvious to me anyone who says they have sex without paying before marriage is lying.” his idea of the whole world meant punjab and now goa, and his idea of having sex meant paying a whore, which from what they both told me is common practice amongst indian boys/men. something had to be done to shut this fool up, but i knew pressing the matter would achieve nothing. the next day i was at a travel agency buying flight tickets to helli and there was this fine looking blonde female (a 9, but to indian men a 15) sitting there with an older woman beside her. as soon as i walked in she stared me up and down about 6 times. until we left goa a few days later i hung out with her and i brought my cousins along too, to show them wats good. on the saturday night we went to this club called cubana….it is nice, similar to opium garden on 2nd and collins in miami beach…they have beds with canopies outside, a pool, a gorgeous view of the city (it is located on top of a mountain), and the inside part is ok too. plus it is open bar and the price is only 500 rupees for a couple. that was an off the hook night with a happy beginning, middle, and ending. i think some of the locals resented my behaviour though…..they love white people in india though. i think everyone knows that. it is not uncommon to love your conqueror; it is like this in africa and latin america too. people thought this girl was like jessica alba, priyanka chopra, adriana lima, scarlett johansson, ashwaria, all rolled up into one. they would have done anything to see her let alone talk to her…..the next night we went to this place called tito’s….succinctly put, it is a dump…..do not go there….it is just right beside the beach, that’s why they are able to trap people….our behaviour inside there was even more outrageous by indian standards. normally, i am not one to be an asshole by deviating from local customs and norms, but if they want to build a nightclub and have a party, well i will happily show them what nightclub and party beviour actually constitutes. they have these weird, imaginary things in their head from what they have seen on tv and in bollywood movies which is far removed from reality. me and her gave the other clubgoers, and especially my cousins, to whom i dedicated my behaviour, a show they will never forget. obviously they gave me respect afterwards. my favorite part of my time with her was when we were saying our goodbyes and we were making out on the street this guy driving by yelled “nooooooooooooo, don’t do it, don’t do it.” it was hilarious…..long live the bjp …we left goa before she did, but me and her met up again and went to agra….the taj mahal is pretty spectacular. i didn;t have any interest in going but she really wanted to so we went. when you turn the corner and see it, it is like oooooooooofffffffff…..the taxi ride back to helli was action-packed and off the hook….in conclusion i would say, just as i reccomend with every other city, find someone who has been there before because there is also a lot of crap you will want to avoid.
24/7, you reaffirm life with your joie de vivre…
As long as 24/7 is whooping it up with hotties, the terrorists have not won
louiecypher, 24/7 is the combination of the Ulyssean James Joyce mixed with Naipaul’s traveling eye in India, that we’ve all been waiting for.
Thanks, Ardy. I was Googling Bombay bombing — had i but known to say blasts….