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Published: November 30th 2008
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Woman letting calf get milk
On a street in the neighborhood. Though I’m here in India, I first learned about the horrendous attacks on Mumbai from Mike back home. The attacks came late on Wednesday night, while we slept. Thursday was Thanksgiving, which happened to be a moon day, which means no yoga practice, which means the day didn’t start in the usual way, with my steaming mug of milky tea and catching up on the world news on the internet. Instead, I went for a run in the neighborhood; my ipod doesn’t have radio (lately I’m on a kick of listening to back-issues of
This American Life). So it wasn’t until I got home, cleaned up, made some tea, and got on Skype (phone) with Mike that I learned about the attacks in Mumbai.
We don’t have a television here, so the only news we were getting was whatever was being reported on the internet, which was slow and disheveled. Quite different than 9/11, which I watched non-stop, blow-by-blow from moments after the first plane crash. And by the time I got to the newsstand Thursday morning, the
Times was sold out, and the
Hindu didn’t have much to say about the attacks — it must have gone to press
shortly after the attacks started.
But since Thursday, the papers have covered the attacks, the rescues (“Operation Cyclone,” as it is now being called, or the “commando operations,” as they’re described in the news), and the “what now” in full force. It is sometimes contradictory (yesterday, they reported 20-40 terrorists, today they report there were 10 attackers in one story, another reported there were 12). And as the newspaper tends to be here, the stories can be hard to follow — so many terms are abbreviated, so many undefined acronyms, and they often assume intimate knowledge of the political players, government departments, parties, scandals, and history (which I obviously don't have). And word choice is a little unusual (from today’s
Times, quoting Special Secretary of Home Ministry: “There are no more terrorists now in Mumbai. All have been liquidated or captured alive.”)
So I’ve been supplementing my local information sources with the NYT, which means I have mostly the same information you do. We are physically far away from Mumbai. We are also in a very different part of India - no financial conglomerates, world businesspeople are not gathering here for negotiations and deal-making; there are no destination
Immediately beyond the neighborhood
The "green space" under the transmission line serves as a defacto boundary between our neighborhood and the substantially less affluent neighborhood. glossy high-rises and swanky hotels famous among famous people. Nor has Mumbai been a topic of discussion among the yoga students or our teachers. In other words, although I’m here in India during and in the aftermath of the attacks, I’m sorry to report that I don’t have any substantial “insiders” insight to share.
That is not to say the attacks are irrelevant here — to the contrary. These attacks have shaken India: current elections are immediately being affected; the already-fragile economy anticipates suffering lost investment (from bankers and tourists alike); resources are being redirected to combat training and buying more weapons and patrol boat, and so on. This state has coastal boundaries, which are the subject of considerable discussion in the “what now” post-attack dialogue. There was talk about a get-away boat for the attackers being stowed in this part of the country (we’re south of Mumbai). Bangalore is just a couple of hours away, and we’ve all been there (the sight of the closest airport); with its wealth and western influences, Bangalore may also be (has been before) a target. The newspaper is full of talk of the attacks: pats on the backs about the success of
Elaborate entry-way to modest homes
These designs are created at the entry of a home as a blessing to whoever enters. They can be quite elaborate, these with petals in the middle. Operation Cyclone; finger-pointing about how these attackers entered the country; intimate tales of lost lives; spiritual advice about how to deal with the tragedy; analysis of the security measures to be enacted locally and state-wide, and on it goes. My travel plans for February included meeting my mother in Mumbai; that is changing. Is it wise to plan a Christmas holiday excursion to Goa, a very popular destination characterized by resorts for the international rich and famous?
More significantly but harder to define, we can’t help but be very aware that “we” were the targets. We (the yoga students) form a relatively substantial conglomerate of foreigners living in a fairly confined affluent neighborhood. We had a Thanksgiving dinner feast on Friday afternoon, with over 100 almost-exclusively foreign yogis gathered together in one of the nicest hotels in the city. The attacks necessarily affect us all personally, but mostly in subtle ways.
We’re safe, and that’s the main thing I give thanks for this year.
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