Mumbai
The city formerly known as Bombay was the target of multiple train explosions today. An acquaintance from the city said he was surprised the number of deaths was under 200 given the time of day and traffic in the area. He made calls to all friends and family and luckily those he knows are safe. The attacks ride on the heels of the London bombing anniversary, yet speculation points to groups concerned with Kashmir not Iraq or the U.S.
A friend is planning to spend several days in Mumbai this summer; I hope this doesn't make her reconsider the vacation. It's easy to write but hard to actually live without fear of terrorists.
Just today I was talking (in a very different context) with someone about our memory's amazing capability to forget pain. You remember feeling pain, but the pain itself cannot be recalled; instead, we are left with fear, which is sometimes far worse.
posted by Jessica @ 8:30 PM
5 Comments:
Sometimes one is left with neither pain nor fear, but sadness...
Yeharr
Why can't we all just get along? It's as if these terrorists, any terrorist no matter whay group organized or unorganized, is just trying to start WWIII. And most of them have the gaul to say it's for religious beliefs. I don't care what religion a person is--Do you really think any religious god would support murderous rampages and suicide killings? I think not! Ist't the whole purpose for finding religion, no matter what it is, is to find some sort of inner peace through a higher power? Isn't religion supposed to give people something to believe in? I don't think killing people and terrorizing the world is in any sort of religious teachings or handbook.
I was happy I was not in Mumbai. As I left on my Rome trip, I spoke to a pilot friend leaving on the Mumbai trip (out of NY). Luckily, our hotel isn't near a train station, and we rarely go on them when there anyway. (That same crew also layed over in Paris on the night of the world cup -- couldn't have been worse timing to be assigned that trip!)
Unfortunately, I think many of us forget the pain and the fear altogether because we live in some kind of bubble...my sister is the perfect example. She thought Katrina was a friend of mine. I shit you not.
I saw this thing on CNN today about Mumbai, and the reporter did the story from the eyes of a basket vendor living on the streets not far from the attacks. He was sympathetic to a point about their lives on the streets, but then said "at the end, they all have an interesting story to tell". My mouth dropped open.
BP: Your insight never ceases to amaze me.
Leslie: Unfortunately, I do think some people's conception of religion or a particular god supports murderous rampages and suicide killings. I don't pretend to understand it.
NY: I'm glad to hear your colleagues were unharmed, and even more glad to hear that you were not in the city that day.
Colleen: "an interesting story to tell"?? Wow.
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