Saturday, September 13, 2008

Bombings in Delhi

Many of you have probably heard that this evening (Saturday), New Delhi was bombed several times in busy shopping areas. According to early reports, 10 people have been killed and more than 60 have been wounded.

I am completely fine, and didn't even know there had been an attack until I went over to the office for dinner. However, two of the bombs went off in shopping centers that I have been to in the past. Definitely made me think!

If you are interested in following the updates, head over to Google News, which keeps a constant feed of the latest coverage.

One more thing. I want to add a very fascinating cultural note. After hearing the news, I was surprised to see that most of the office guys were talking about other things. Occasionally the conversation would drift over to the bombings, but more often than not, everyone was talking about totally unrelated topics!

One of the guys told me, "Oh, we were glued to the TV for a while, but then we turned it off."

Can you imagine something like this happening in the States? It would be the only think on everyone's mind for weeks! That TV would be on 24/7! Here, just hours after the event, these guys were already starting to move on.

After puzzling over everyone's rather mild reactions to a bombing just miles away, it started to dawn on me. In India, things like this are not uncommon. Just a few months ago, a bomb blast killed 61 people in Jaipur. Every other day there is news of violence from neighboring Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

South Asia is a region in turmoil. Sure there's violence in Delhi, but what's new?

I can't pretend to understand this way of thinking, but for the hundredth time since being here, I've remembered just how fortunate we as Americans really are. Safe, secure, protected... As Gary Haugen put it, "We live in the gentle shade of a very fair garden."

And to think... we're the ones who live in fear.

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