Feeling blue, seeing red
… naked bodies were on the floor and on a platform. One’s head had sunk in, a blow had smashed the bone structure beneath his face. It resembled a punctured football. Around another was a pool of blood, his brain spilled out from beneath a flap of skin above the ear. Another, a man with a moustache, had half-open eyes and a cut leg, and a slash across his chest that exposed the heart. Beside him was a body with no head. [Link]
Reading the sickening firsthand accounts of people blown apart run over electrocuted shrapneled burned shattered eviscerated, a chamber of Gothic horrors, it sounds like Saving Private Ryan at my local station. I’ve been feeling really low. Moving through molasses. Sleeping a lot. Shaving feels optional. Odd since I was nowhere near the bombings. I think it’s because when NYC was jetbombed, I was in London, and when London was bombed, I was in NYC.
During 9/11 my dominant emotion was fury, and it’s outrageous that the U.S. still hasn’t killed the mastermind. Here in Bombay, it’s helplessness, because you know damn well that unlike the U.S., the Indian government won’t — can’t — do a damn thing to exterminate these scum.
The trains ran again four hours after the explosions. The railways called body pickers, repaired the overhead electric wires, cleared the tracks and went on with it. India, like Israel, is used to picking up the body parts and carrying on. Enshrining this hurt, squabbling over a memorial for five years, would be laughable here.
I’ve never so badly wanted a strong central government as I do now. Israel just invaded Lebanon in attack retaliation, but Indians are brutally violated — corporeally — obscenely — and we just sit here. A government that can’t even build roads, that did nothing when its own Parliament was attacked, will do nothing to crush these vermin.
Weakness attracts vultures and wolves. As long as Indian citizens elect incompetent thugs, they will continue being raped on the altar of terrorism. As Fareed Zakaria writes, universal suffrage without some basic preconditions — education and classical liberalism — is a terrible idea. There’s no better argument for implementing a minimum citizenship test for voters than a crippled nation adrift, unable to defend itself, skippered by dimwitted goons, prey to the sea.
on Thursday, July 13th, 2006, 11:37 pm in Issues, Politics › 
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Well said Manish. I too feel the same way. Its time now that our government retaliates and punishes these hatemongers.
The Founding Fathers of the US had remarked that France (at that time) was too depraved to be capable of self-government,
particularly of the republican kind they had envisaged for the US.
Apparently, Gandhi too was of the opinion that India was not capable of self-government, some say he dallied independence
so that he could fashion the country into something more suitable.
But he went mad, and a case could be made that the Gandhi of Independence was more depraved than the rest of teh country he sought
to reform; such is the difficulty that faces one who wishes to reform depravity;
and no one has taken the task ever since.
I feel more than red or blue, I feel yellow as well; I cannot shake off the fact that my impotence plays a part in the continuance of this depravity.
do you have any insights the rest of us dont on who’s behind this? Please do share.
btw - check your facts on “Israel just invaded Lebanon over a single kidnapped soldier”. Israel invaded Palestine using the kidnapped soldier as an excuse to overthrow a legally elected government. Heck, even Switzerland, a somewhat neutral entity has come out and is condemning the attack. The attack on Lebanon was over these 8 soliders who were kidnapped by a rogue organization in response to the Gaza incursions.
I had no idea that people feel that the government is so ineffective in India. What is behind this? Is it the sheer size of the country? The loose federal structure? Corruption?
Here in the UK, journalists tend to paint a picture of India as an emerging world power, yet you clearly feel that your government is useless and inefficient. Can such a political system support and build India as a world power?
India will rise despite the gov’t, but the one thing desperately needed is an investment in basic education. It’s got the 12th highest PPP-adjusted GDP in the world, but most of the credit goes to the private sector.
Thanks for this piece Manish (as well as the others). I feel the same anger, helplessness and frustration. There’s been an attack every few months in India since the parliament bombings and the government seems unable or unwilling to do a THING. Some globalpower-in-waiting, India can’t even protect its own citizens (and not just from terrorism as you point out). If I hear the word resilience one more time, I’m going to vomit.
I appreciate your anger and frustration, which I share, but I cannot accept the sentiment in these lines: “As Fareed Zakaria writes, universal suffrage without some basic preconditions — education and classical liberalism — is a terrible idea.”
What’s the alternative? no suffrage for those not educated enough or classically liberal enough? It’s not like our educated and classically liberal folks are doing such a great job (i.e. why do you assume the problem with the Indian polity is that the great unwashed have suffrage?).
Don’t mean to quibble– obviously your post is about something else for the most part, and I commend you for capturing the essence of what most Indians are feeling right about now — it’s just that I feel very strongly about this, given the widespread hostility to democracy and democratic ideals one sees all around one among India’s “educated” and “classically liberal” folks: juts take a look at the Bollywood smash hit Rang de Basanti, which ran like a bandit in upscale cinema halls, and didn’t do much at all where the “rest” go to watch their Bollyfare…
I firmly believe that in a democracy, you get what you elect. The fact that our government is spineless is a reflection of our own timidity. When the IA plan was hijacked to Khandahar, our citizenry and media emotionally black-mailed our politicians to succumb to the terrorists’ demands, with asinine arugments like “what if your son was in that plane?”. We have become too selfish to think beyond our family. “As long as my father-mother-sister-brother are safe, I’m fine to live for another day”.
This attitude is quite well summarized in this opinion piece on Outlook, that practically pleads the terrorists: please, please let us live.
“Back then, many of us believed that March 12, 1993 was that never-again event, even cold-blooded terrorists could not strike again. Many of us were horribly wrong. Now, Mumbaikars hope that cold-blooded, evil-intentioned, blood-sucking monsters will not strike again. Hope, after all, is the one commodity that comes free in expensive Mumbai; human life is cheap.”
Sick.
Manish, I am so so sorry that your new hometown is hurting, so sorry that you’re dealing with so much sadness and grief on a journey that started out with so much optimism and excitement. It’s enraging that this keeps happening, infuriating that there is so very little recourse short of invoking disaster. Whenever I’m in India or immersed in Indian politics, my head starts hurting and I keep wondering –why oh why didn’t they go with a Congressional system and a stronger central government from the getgo? I’m not going to pretend to be able to analyze the current slate of officials—-it’s beyond me to keep track—but losing faith in democracy and principled action is not the way to go. It’s horrible that India’s hand’s are so often tied way above and beyond the call of morality, but do we really want India to be like Israel is right now?? I read descriptions of the carnage in Beirut—my alarm clock woke me up with the single sentence, “Of the 50-some people killed in this attack by Israel, many were civilians, including a family of 10,”–and my stomach churns and I think, “good lord, didn’t they just see what happens when bombs hit innocent human flesh in Mumbai? After watching that disaster on the news, how could they turn around and purposefully, openly attack another transit system with so little functional outcome?”
It’s not just a matter of electing people, but participating. Our government was never just about citizens merely voting–and the extent to which it has become one about votes for most of the citizens is reflective of the extent to which our democracy is ailing. India needs less party politics and more citizen councils and civil society.
Take care Manish, and come home soon! You’re long overdue for a long stay by the blue bay from whence you came.
Powerful words !!! On top of the feeling of frustration that you articulate so well, I get mad whenever I read about the reports of how people are so “resilient”. What other choice do poor people have in India, other than to getup and go to work the next day no matter how terrible the conditions are?
The other thing that get my blood boiling is the pats on the back the government gets for its “measured response”. They get applauded for their impotence. The fact is that due to lack of any kind of accountability, the government will never act against this threat. The poor will continue to have to be “resilient”.. and I will continue to get mad !!!
“Here in Bombay, it’s helplessness, because you know damn well that unlike the U.S., the Indian government won’t — can’t — do a damn thing to exterminate these scum.”
what did the u.s. do? come up with a patriot act and embark on two wars, all entirely unsuccessful at finding the perpetrators of the terrorist act. in fact, the only thing the wars have been good at is killing people who had nothing to do with the whole shebang. if the al quaeda is indeed behind the mumbai bomb blasts as some whisperings suggest, then that just goes to show how successful the u.s. has been at “exterminating scum”.
what mumbai needs is not a witch hunt. it needs infrastructure. it needs urban planning that will ensure next time there is a crisis, ambulances aren’t stuck in traffic. it needs to redesign the railway stations and the ticketing system so that at least a superficial security scan is possible each time someone enters a station (it isn’t that hard - computerised tickets and gates with metal detectors. however, it will make a few thousand railway employees jobless and it will involve shutting each station down for a few weeks).
by the way, the government is being blasted by the media (or at least what passes for as media) and with just cause. the blasts are an intelligence failure, pure and simple. what is a lot more disheartening and infuriating is that it looks like it’s a case of ignoring intelligence reports. but post-blast, keep in mind that in india, it is not possible to just crack down and start detaining people flamboyantly. it has to be done as a “measured” response because if not, you run the risk of serious communal disharmony.
There hasnt been another attack in the US since 2001. They displaced Taliban. Agreed that the US policy of Iraq is a disaster, but US action against Taliban was successful.
Yes. So in one week everyone will forget everything about this heinous act and go back to their resilient selves, that is until the next time they get blown-up. Then the people will just suck it up and move on. The will continue.
I bet you one week, max …. Who knows it could even last for fewer days not more. Like Manish said … “squabbling over a memorial for five years, would be laughable here.”
“Crush these vermin” “Exterminate these scum”
If you want an American-style response, Manish, perhaps you should point out which country you would like the Indian government to invade. Pakistan, perhaps? Well, unfortunately that country happens to be one of America’s staunchest allies in the war against terror. I don’t think the US would be terribly happy about India deciding to bomb it, especially since it also has nuclear weapons. Perhaps India should bomb/invade Bangladesh instead? Or how about Micronesia? Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11, so why not?
Terrorism is an old problem, and heavy-handed military responses have been seen to be singularly ineffective in defeating it. The US government has yet to learn that lesson. What we need is a response that deals with the cause of terrorism, not more innocent deaths that just perpetuate the violence. The Kashmir issue needs to be resolved, for one, which needs jaw-jaw not war-war.
So here’s hoping you back off on the scum-exterminating and vermin-crushing rhetoric once you calm down.
In 80s, I only spent a week or so in Bombay/ Mumbai.
However, last week I could not concentrate on anything.
Life in India is difficult as it is, and then innocent people attacked in Mumbai - People who tied were trying to earn their bread and then the ineffective government.
All the helplessness (mine included) kept bothering me. The only saving grace was that the common man in Mumbia rose to the ocasion.