Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Attacks in Mumbai - again

Came back from a road trip, to learn the horrifying news about Mumbai. Varnam provides some useful links; Amit Varma writes about his experience. And Sonia Faleiro writes a moving piece. Both Amit and Sonia were very close to where some of the shooting happened. I was also glad to hear that my friend Chandrahas is safe.

Salil Tripathi has a piece in the Far Eastern Economic Review. And his son, the 19-year old Udayan Tripathi, has a beautiful essay on the attacks, quoted by that inexhaustible blogger, Prem Panicker, who himself has a series of links and updates (if access to his blog is spotty, press refresh enough times and you'll get there). And from the WSJ: India's antiterror blunders. And more: Suketu Mehta, author of one of the best books about Mumbai, Maximum City, in the New York Times; and Desipundit aggregates a number of updates and provides links to more articles and essays.

4 comments:

Krishnan said...

Hari, it is pretty sad that Mumbai has to bear the brunt of terrorist attacks too often. One cannot but marvel at the resilience of Mumbaikars. It is quite distressing that time after time terrorists are able to strike at will in India. Hoping against hope that sanity prevails.

Hari said...

Yes, Krishnan, it's terrible. Mumbaikars have been resilient, yes, and we hear that every time something like this happens. But resilience to what end? I don't know how this issue is to be fixed, but what is clear is that the government and its associated institutions are clueless about this stuff. They have no idea or intelligence that can anticipate such attacks.

Krishnan said...

Hari, to get a different spin on Mumbai siege, here is a link
http://www.openspace.org.in/node/805

do check it out and tell me what you feel about it.

Hari said...

Hi Krishnan,
I went through the essay. Certainly there are some interesting points there. The trouble is, it's becoming very difficult to believe in a clear set of motivations behind the attack. The whole business seems murky, and I wonder if it will be left to future historians to sort through the mess and come up with more accurate conclusions.