Posts Tagged With: Terror
On Alert
I packed carefully for my Delhi trip. At least, I thought I was packing carefully. I decided not to pack my nailcutter or carry shampoo, hair oil or anything fluid. (Yes, I use hair oil, diligently at that.) After three blasts in south Mumbai, Delhi was on high alert according to all the news channels. [...]
Final Update
On the morning after, here is where we stand. At a press conference held at 9.30am, the Home Minister, P. Chidambaram, said the final casualty count is 17 (one severed head is yet to be identified; once it is, the toll will amount to 18). The three blasts were not remotely triggered but went off [...]
And it happens again
Here’s what I did today. I got up in the morning, toddled over to my neighbourhood coffee shop, read some stuff online, bought two pairs of shoes (it’s sale season here in Mumbai) and then I was going to head downtown at about 7 when I got this message: “City on high alert. Blast in [...]
Roaring Success
The climax of Chris Morris’s “Four Lions” takes place at the London Marathon and involves a Honey Monster (he’s the mascot for a cereal), a Wookie and two snipers. The snipers are told to shoot the Honey Monster because in that costume is a jihadi suicide bomber and one of them shoots. He’s told to [...]
Fesitval Notes – Part One
Session: Bin Laden After Bush, moderated by Basharat Peer. There’s something a little off about sitting in the sunny front lawns of Diggi Palace and talking about terrorism. This type of thing should happen somewhere gloomier, grimmer, clammier. But here I am, surrounded by pretty decorations and prettier people, turning into a kebab in the [...]
Buns and Guns
There I am, sprightly, awake and jetlagged in a London hotel at 4 in the morning (thanks to a series of misadventures) so I do what everyone does in those circumstances. I turn on the tv. Time Life offered me a 12-CD collection called “Midnight Soul” with favourites like “Freak Me” for 50pounds. A channel [...]
Not cricket
Everyone was sure after the November attacks in Mumbai that there was a second set coming. In Mumbai, this meant there were police barricades set up all over the city which slowed down the already turgid traffic. The predictions for the next chosen site ranged from military bases in Gujarat to the Red Fort during [...]
Days of our Lives
It’s one of those crazy, crazy days. Iran apparently began a test-run of its Russian-built atomic power plant. A plane broke into three parts while attempting to land at Schiphol. There’s rebellion raging in the headquarters of the Bangladesh Rifles. Despite the fact that it’s being conducted by Bengalis and it’s started because of something [...]
World view
There’s a friend of mine who believes that the universe gives her signs to help her negotiate the mad, bad world. Generally, these signs come through the songs that play in her iPod when she sets it in the “shuffle” mode. This actually came out when a bunch of us had gathered to help a [...]
Open channel
I really wanted Aftermath to be the last time I referred to what is stupidly being called 26/11 (as if the next three days didn’t happen) but it’s clearly not to be. We don’t know who orchestrated the events in Mumbai or why but one thing is for sure: what this latest terror attack has [...]
World Domination
