Blast Rocks Mumbai

I just saw Mira Nair's Salaam Bombay for the first time last night, and was remarking about how much, despite all the poverty, corruption, and evilness that pervade the streets of Bombay, that I think that city is amazing. Bombayites slowly recovered from the blasts 10 years ago that rocked the financial district in 1993, and now, as the story in the New York Times reports, they are going to have to recover from another blast that has rocked one of my favorite Indian monuments, the Gateway of India, as well as Zaveri Bazaar, both in South Bombay, near where I interned in the Summer of 1998.

While I was at Hindustan Lever, I would on occaision walk around the southern tip of the city, near the Gateway, near the Taj Hotel, which was also damaged in the blasts, and you just kind of think of the history of the area. Well, at least I did. And now, after another one of these bombings, in a place that I have visited many times, I just kind of wonder when all of this will end. When people will realize the means to an end is not through violence. It is not through extrajudical means.

We in America are getting ready to celebrate the 40th anniverary of Martin Luther King's "I have a Dream" speech, a speech which was given by a man heavily influenced by the teachings and writings of Mohandas Gandhi. I hope the poeple of India, and the people all over the world will sort of go back and mull over the philosophies of these two great men--so that everyone can go back to a world, where violence, terrorism, crime, and poverty are not things to expect, or to live in fear of, while equality, freedom, and civility become the new words that we live by.

My thoughts and prayers, are with the people and families affected by todays tragedy in India.

I think rediff.com is doing a good job at maintaining a current website if you would like to keep up-to-date as events unfold in Bombay.

posted by sajit @ 10:27 AM