I have just come back from Mumbai where I spent a great weekend, very encouraging, yet it came on the heels of one of the greatest tragedies in recent Indian history. India is a very intense country. Most of the time it is fun and wildly interesting but it also gets very scary and threatening. I was in Bangalore when I heard there had been some shooting in Mumbai. As usual in these situations we don't realize the gravity of it all till later.
We spent the next couple of days glued to CNN and the local Indian news. I was due to fly to Mumbai so I wanted to know what was going on even more. I wasn't scared but I didn't want to be stuck in Mumbai and not be able to go home to Delhi. What happens to me in those cases is I go on high alert. All my senses are awake and it is hard to sleep. Every noise gets amplified, every light is brighter, every movement becomes suspicious. It is not fear per se but more of a state of intense alertness. I have been there before. This was a pretty intense week but I have seen worse. At least this time my kids were not involved which helped a lot. I am not scared at all when the kids are not involved. It all changes when my children are around...
I was sad to hear three children at the American School in Mumbai lost their parents in the shooting. I was also very sad to see the young terrorists on TV. They looked barely older than my son. I felt of tinge of pity for them. What if they had been loved, what if they had received proper education, what if they had been taught about love and tolerance?...
People in Mumbai are not scared; they are mad. They are very angry this time. They want it to stop.
Anyway life goes on. There is more security around, at my kids' school, at the airport... I walked into Mumbai airport with a machine gun pointed at me. Eerie feeling... The airport and the flight back to Delhi were almost empty. Even while checking in in Bangalore to fly to Mumbai the airline people thought I was crazy to fly and they warned me to be careful! Oh well... If I wanted to be safe I wouldn't live here.
I remember the riot in Dhaka, the immolations in Delhi in 1993, the persecution times, the plague in 1992,the life threatening diseases my kids and my husband went through, the deliveries of my babies in very primitive conditions, the near death experiences on Indian roads, etc. We are still ok.
I don't know what the future holds. There is a higher power watching over us. I guess we'll just keep living to the full and see what happens... When we don't risk it we don't win it... No regrets... (just a couple of my core beliefs)...
We spent the next couple of days glued to CNN and the local Indian news. I was due to fly to Mumbai so I wanted to know what was going on even more. I wasn't scared but I didn't want to be stuck in Mumbai and not be able to go home to Delhi. What happens to me in those cases is I go on high alert. All my senses are awake and it is hard to sleep. Every noise gets amplified, every light is brighter, every movement becomes suspicious. It is not fear per se but more of a state of intense alertness. I have been there before. This was a pretty intense week but I have seen worse. At least this time my kids were not involved which helped a lot. I am not scared at all when the kids are not involved. It all changes when my children are around...
I was sad to hear three children at the American School in Mumbai lost their parents in the shooting. I was also very sad to see the young terrorists on TV. They looked barely older than my son. I felt of tinge of pity for them. What if they had been loved, what if they had received proper education, what if they had been taught about love and tolerance?...
People in Mumbai are not scared; they are mad. They are very angry this time. They want it to stop.
Anyway life goes on. There is more security around, at my kids' school, at the airport... I walked into Mumbai airport with a machine gun pointed at me. Eerie feeling... The airport and the flight back to Delhi were almost empty. Even while checking in in Bangalore to fly to Mumbai the airline people thought I was crazy to fly and they warned me to be careful! Oh well... If I wanted to be safe I wouldn't live here.
I remember the riot in Dhaka, the immolations in Delhi in 1993, the persecution times, the plague in 1992,the life threatening diseases my kids and my husband went through, the deliveries of my babies in very primitive conditions, the near death experiences on Indian roads, etc. We are still ok.
I don't know what the future holds. There is a higher power watching over us. I guess we'll just keep living to the full and see what happens... When we don't risk it we don't win it... No regrets... (just a couple of my core beliefs)...
Boys playing cricket two days after the terrorist attacks.
1 comment:
at the end of the day india is a wonderful country. the stories of hotel staff who gave their life and saved the people they were 'serving' is truly inspiring. i dont think you could witness that anywhere else in the world.
i see a new India emerging...silently and bravely beating all odds.
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