Bomb blasts in Bangalore
As I type the title, all I can remember is the beautiful place that Bangalore was when I was growing up - quaint, relaxed, and easy. Well, it was none of that this afternoon. I heard about the blasts from my husband who was on the road then. He called and told me about a series of bomb blasts in the city. He also told me that he was coming home. It was about 2.10 pm and I was trying to get my children to nap a little. It was cloudy with mild drizzles, a perfect afternoon to chill out and take it easy was what I had thought. I quickly switched on the new channels on TV and soon saw all the images that the different channels were carrying. The first thing that occurred to me was that the images didn’t seem too grave. It didn’t seem like we had lost too many lives. On listening further, I learnt that one woman was killed and 20 people were injured. What I was trying to gather was the number of blasts. And each channel carried different numbers. DD News said 8 blasts, Times said 4, and Headlines Today said 2! It was too varied. Another channel even said 6. I sent out a bunch of SMSes alerting people of the turn of events and later learnt that some of them heard it first through the SMS. I quickly called whomever I could, just to check how they were doing. I was constantly worried about my husband being on the road. And to reach people on their cells was very difficult. The network was very busy. Luckily, when I was able to reach my husband I heard that the route he was on seemed safe and that there wasn’t a traffic jam of any sort. He was going to be home soon. And that was very relieving.
Over the next hour or so, the news about the blasts seemed slightly more clearer. There were 7 blasts for sure and in this sequence:
1st blast - 1:20 - Madiwala Bus stop
2nd blast - 1:25 - Mysore Road
3rd blast - 1:40 - Adugudi
4th blast - 2:10 - Koramangla
5th blast - 2:25 - Vittal Mallya Road
6th blast - 2:35 - Langford Town
7th blast - 2.35 pm - Richmond Circle
Something like this was to have been expected, given the present day scenario. I mean, already so many Indian cities have been targeted and Bangalore seemed like an obvious target. It is troubling to think of our children and the world today. We have no clue what is on anybody’s mind. We don’t seem to be able to figure out the different intentions and the thoughts behind those intentions. That said, I must admit to constantly being reminded of the goodness in humanity. However hard it may seem to be true, there is immense goodness! And somewhere or the other, things tend to balance themselves out.This is life as we know it now, and it is up to us to make the best of it, and definitely so for our children.
Let’s keep the dead and the injured in our thoughts and prayers.
Lets strive to lead conscientious lives and raise our children to be conscientious.
Love to all!
Filed under: langford town, vittal mallya road, richmond circle, koramangala, adugodi, mysore road, madiwala, bomb, bomb blasts, Friday July 25 2008, July 25, Bangalore
[…] A personal account of the happenings is here. […]
Hi Chitra - this is horrible….the first I heard abt the blasts was through your blog this morning! I normally don’t go out and read news but now that we are R2I ing to B’lore in a few weeks, I check your blog often. Such things make me doubt our decision Chitra….not sure if this is the safest move for us and our kids. Bay Area, CA seems to be a much safer atmosphere for our kids right?
I too keep thinking about the goodness in people. This is a far more prevalent experience in Bangalore than feeling fear. I still love Bangalore and am grateful that we are here
That is shocking indeed. Earlier such incidents used to be restricted to fewer cities. Given Bangalore’s prominence such incidents seem to be more and more likely going forward. Hope it never gets worse and that the cops nip it in the bud (easier said than done)
-Ganapathy
It was shocking… and scary… There is no hope until we make it difficult for these guys. Ever heard of 18 blasts in one city… not even in West Asia or Iraq! By the way, I am on a blog holiday, bec of work and travel….
Are we scared too easily?
I am sad and angry at the same time. Angry at the culprits and angrier at our security forces and babus for letting these incidents happen again and again.
Our security and government does not seem to learn from these incidents. I am in the US but seeing the pics and videos of the aftermath its clear that things haven’t changes much in the last few years. The same sloppy reaction to an incident, the same blame game even before the investigation has begun, the same sloppy handling of evidence (with bare hands in all cases), no separation of parking from crowded areas and on and on.
As Pradeep rightly questioned how can anyone getaway with 18 blasts w/o a single culprit being caught? Its time the press and people demand some quality investigation, reaction and security from the bozos who are our politicians.
I read this guys twitter status as ” Hapy Deeavali Bangalore” and i wish i could punch this guy hard on his nose. Wont mention his url cos i dont want him to get any publicity. These people dont have a clue of what htey are doing to small kids. I feel sad when i see kids in coma. But i feel more sad when the irresponsible media of our country shows the picture of a person who passed away in the blasts and put a caption under him that read ” The Suicide Bomber”. Do they have any idea what impact this would make on the family of that innocent man who died? his family was trying to recognize him amongst the dead bodies and they had to read a news paper with his picture saying he is the culprit! Isnt the media answerable to anyone!
Can happen anywhere right? We are not safe anywhere in the world . It happened in NYC , remember 9/11. Every place is safe till something goes wrong. So R2I’ers or those planning don’t get too concerned , we are living in a world where these things have become more , unfortunate..