Delhi Bombings

Delhi Bombings

As you've likely heard, Delhi was hit with serial bombs on Saturday around 6pm local time. I decided not to post about it right away, as I wasn't exactly sure how I felt - or even whether I had an appropriate reaction. As I think back to the events of 9/11, I recall being in much the same scenario (on a much larger scale) - Was it right to attend class just hours after the buildings fell?

In any case, this post should help explain to those of you not familiar with Delhi where / how this took place - and explain from my perspective how the city has responded.

At about 6pm, I left Chokola in Priya / Basant Lok market in Vasant Vihar. This is roughly above the L in Delhi on the image above. My driver, misunderstanding where I was heading, took the long way home & so I arrived at my house about 7 pm. After being alerted by my landlady to check the news, I came to know of the bomb blasts.

Of all the blasts, one hit closer to home (literally and figuratively). Two blasts went off in M Block market - GK1, an area of town that several of my friends live in. The blasts here were essentially pipe bombs placed in opposite corners of the market in trashcans.

M Block is a decidedly Middle - Upper Middle class market with Swaroski & other upmarket brands in it. As a result, it is a market I've been to on a handful of occasions, and should my office not be located in Gurgaon, one I might have chosen to live near. Instead, I've settled in the south west corner of Delhi and frequent Basant Lok - a slightly more posh market - but very similar demographic. After 30 minutes of news, and my sense of security bruised a bit (I had after all been in a market about the time of the blast), I was able to piece together some high level information on the blast before heading out.

The other bombs went off in very different areas.
1) Connaught Place: CP is the central shopping district in Delhi. Designed by the Brits, it is two large circular streets of shops surrounding a central park. The bombs that went off here were in trash cans near the entrance to Delhi's Largest metro stop. CP is a very popular shopping destination - with a smattering of western brands & local shops. It has a younger crowd, and usually a healthy dose of tourists staying at the local hotels.

2) Karol Bagh: This area is a crowded market area - it would be bustling and congested at the time of the bombings, and for this reason- most of the loss of life is centered here. The market is home to some apparel, jewellery & is also the home to the gray economy w/ regards to electronics. This is more of a working class neighborhood, far from the posh south Delhi suburbs. The blast here appears to have been on an auto rickshaw - all of which are powered by CNG (compressed natural gas), a highly explosive fuel - this further added to the loss of life.

3) Gopaldas Bhavan: The office crowd was a target here - with many traditional Indian companies still working 6 days a week, 6 pm would be a busy time in this area. Although the damage seems less here - the attack was clearly targeting office workers in this area.

With the news of the attack still pouring in, I headed to pick up my friends for a pre-planned get together. On the way, I drove through several market areas. I was shocked to see that just two hours after the bombings, the markets were still buzzing. In fact, I have this image of two mid-twenty year old girls browsing a clothing boutique burned into my head. In a weird way - everything appeared normal. With the exception of a crowd in an electronics store that had televisions tuned to local news, everyone seemed calm & cool.

Then it struck me - here I too was on my way to a get together, to hang out with friends and play cards... I too had watched for 30 minutes - surprised to hear of blasts in my own city - saddened by the loss of life (30 dead), and then continued on my way. Was this inappropriate? Should I have stayed in, skipped out on a fun evening with friends? I had this sudden pang of guilt as friends began calling my mobile from the states making sure I was OK. Here thousands of miles away, friends are worried & I was off to play cards...

I woke up Sunday, grabbed my paper & reviewed the news. I was surprised to see no more than 3 pages of coverage dedicated to the bombings. However, the more I read and thought about the disaster, the more I began to understand the context of these bombings.

On Saturday 5 bombs went off and 30 died. Just 4 months back, 65 died in Jaipur. In Mumbai 2006 - 180 killed in train bombings. Just last month bombs exploded in Bangalore & Ahemabad. This is not to say these Delhi bombings have less significance than the others, but in the greater context - it is understandable how folks have moved forward processed this so quickly.

I don't want those of you reading from afar to confuse this recent history of bombings w/ India being an unsafe place. Quite the contrary. By and large India is a phenomenally safe place - sure there are issues - but on the whole, it is warm, welcoming and safe. I could write an entire blog post on this topic alone - but for now, I'm afraid I've babbled for too long and without enough structure - so I'm going to cut it here.

From Delhi - Scott