Mumbai
Thanks to everyone who emailed me in the last few days; sorry I couldn’t give an earlier update. I was actually in Bombay – I chose the worst three days to go in all the six months that I have been here, just four hours away – but I was not near the sites of attack, and am safe.
I went to Bombay to meet some friends, attend a workshop and finally visit the state archives for some work. The day of the attacks, a bunch of us briefly talked about visiting the Gateway of India, looking around some downtown sights, and maybe choosing a fancy place nearby for dinner – like the Taj coffee house nearby! But then we found something better to do and stayed in our northern suburb. An excellent idea, as it turned out! The scale and audacity of this attack, the high profile, upscale targets, Westerners among the dead, etc. has stunned everybody, I guess, including the global media*, even though it is hardly the first time the city has seen such senseless and sudden killing, and this is the seventh or eighth militant strike on an Indian city in the last six months. This is the second time I’ve been in the same city as a serial blast – I was in New Delhi in September, too, and this routine of texting friends to find out if they’re okay and thanking one’s stars that one was not too close to the scenes of carnage is becoming sickeningly familiar. This one rattled me a lot, and the atmosphere of fear, tension and utter exhaustion in Bombay was palpable.
There’s so much to rage about – the rotting, utterly bankrupt and corrupt political system, the bellowing TV anchors and their hysterical, irresponsible and speculative reporting (Note to media: adding a question mark to a rumour – “another bomb at CST Station?” on a moving ticker-tape, or inserting the caveat “Are these rumours true?” above a list of wild, front-page speculations is not ethical journalism!), the blame game among political parties that has already begun, the utter horror of 20-something, smiling youth spraying bullets into crowds, the bewildering cascade of global and local causes and chains that makes such mayhem possible, the knowledge that this will not be the last – but for now, my heart and condolences go out to a fellow Raveler, who lost her mother in the indiscriminate firing that day.
*Although someone told me that Deepak Chopra, of Yoga-lifestyle-living fame, was interviewed by CNN in the US as an expert on the matter – is that true? I don’t know whether to laugh or cry about that.
Some TV channel actually had Shobha De talking. I have no words to describe my reaction to that. I’m afraid my vocabulary of rude terms is very limited.
I am studiouly ignoring TV and newspaper, which might be ostrich-like, but I’m afraid the few soundbites I hear are making me weep with anger and sadness.
I am so relieved you are safe. What an terrible experience you’ve been through. Take care.
Chopra was apparently interviewed by Larry King. I didn’t see it, so I don’t know if he was previously planned or brought specifically because of the situation, but I read the transcripts and thought he made good points about the need not to be reactionary and to work in cooperation with the majority of the Muslim world who condemn terror. He also made the point – which is never made by those in power, but very much needs to be said – that the US’s “collateral damage” in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and elsewhere is considered terror by the people who live there and only exacerbates the problem.
It’s scary to realize just how many people I know have connections to Mumbai. Aside from yourself, there is the minister who married David and myself, whose father is in Mumbai at the moment visiting family; the friend who lives in Hong Kong who rerouted her travel through Chennai because of the Bangkok airport protests, though she would ordinarily have stayed in either the Oberoi or Taj; and the close friend of friends who was leading a tour group and left the Oberoi just hours before the attacks.
Oh, man. I was quite literally just an hour or so ago mentally composing an email to you as I drove from Madison to Chicago, in which I said “I know it’s crazy and possibly the height of self-absorption to imagine that in the large territory of India, among so many people, the one person I know there would actually be caught up in this, and yet… are you OK?”
I can’t believe you were so close, and I’m so happy you’re fine, and I’m so sad for the whole event. Sad isn’t even the right word.
aga, just wanted to say hi. am so glad you are okay and I can only imagine the rage, and also the despair, one must feel when one is so close to all this there in India.
I’m glad you’re safe. I completely agree with everything you said and yeah, what was the screaming TV reporter thinking when she was questioning all these “rumours” in such a way that you wonder if they’re true! Much political bashing and international blaming will ensue, but my heart goes out to all those innocent folk who were brutally murdered and some of them were just hanging out having dinner. It’s a good thing you decided against a night out on the town!
I’m so glad to hear that you are okay. It’s horrible what is happening, and my heart is just broken over it. Please take care!
So glad to hear you are safe but understandably rattled. This story has been huge in the US. I’m so very, very sorry.
I’m glad you’re okay and so sad about what happen to India. I’ve got friends in Parel and I love Mumbaï so much. So sad…
Still wishing I could pull up a chair, have tea with you, and knit. Until such a time, take care desiknitter ji. How long will you be in India? I may have to come sooner than later… Tracy said she’d meet me there. Yo Tracy ji, hum dono Bharat ko ja rahi(n) hai(n) — desiknitter se mil hai(n) — hum sab chai piangii — bat karaingii — Pune me(n) ghumaingii? Hai na?
Well, I guess that sums up my reaction to the recent goings on in Mumbai. Miss you desiknitter ji. Travel safely. That goes for all of us.
I’m just glad to hear you are well.
I am *so* glad you are safe!! I read your blog a lot, and I don’t recall ever commenting before, but I feel compelled to let you know that you have been in my thoughts!
So glad to know that you are well. This is a terrible situation.
So glad to hear you’re safe desiknitter! Thank heavens you got held up and never went to that side.
This whole horror has been heartbreaking at so many many many levels…so many of us here have been shedding tears the last few days for the victims – among whom we must count our country. What is happening to it? The jingoism is frightening as it draws India more and more into a vicious circle of violence and victimization.
Thank you for checking in; I’m so glad to hear that you and your friends are safe.
I’m glad you’ve posted, and acknowledged our Ravelry friend’s loss. I have been crushed and drained myself over this set of events, and the huge blow to India. Also angry at the incompetence that allowed for its magnitude. But mostly stunned that the last place I wandered around in India, in the city I’ll return to next month, has been so ravaged.
Mary bahin, I’m so there with you, any time – Bharat me jaengi, for sure.
Meanwhile desiknitter, know that we’re thinking of you.
My sentiments exactly. Its almost clear that in this confusing world, there are no real experts, only opportunistic leaches (read: the aforementioned Chopdajee) losing no opportunity to benefit from media exposure. At least no real experts that would care to be quoted. Needless to say, there are plenty of charlatans roaming about.
Its almost obvious that all the unproductive activities of the last 8 years are coming home to roost with a vengeance in all realms at once.
Well said desiknitter!! Hope you are wrong about this not being the last attack…
– s
Also glad to hear you are okay (although a few days late here). What a crazy world we live in–it’s hard to know what to think anymore.