July 11, 2007
One Year Ago Today, a Tragedy in BombayIn Memoriam
Seven bombs explode in eleven minutes, slaughtering 209 innocent commuters and injuring 700 others.
The first blast went off at about 1830 local time (1300 GMT), during the rush hour. Correspondents spoke of scenes of pandemonium, with people jumping from trains and bodies flung onto tracks.
An eyewitness at Mahim told the BBC some of those who had jumped from the train were run over by another train coming in the opposite direction.
The force of the blasts ripped doors and windows off carriages, and scattered luggage. Clothes and shoes were strewn along the tracks. [BBC]
Pressure cookers with 2.5kg of RDX each were placed on trains plying on the western line of the suburban (“local”) train network, which forms the backbone of the city’s transport network…All the bombs had been placed in the first-class “general” compartments (some compartments are reserved for women, called “ladies” compartments) of several trains running from Churchgate, the city-centre end of the western railway line, to the western suburbs of the city. They exploded at or in the near vicinity of the suburban railway stations of Matunga Road, Mahim, Bandra, Khar Road, Jogeshwari, Bhayandar and Borivali. [wiki]
We covered it last year, here.
Today, Uberdesi asks why only certain victims of terrorism get memorialized. Reading their post reminded me of the horrible significance of this date and I thank them for the unintended nudge.
anna on July 11, 2007 04:00 PM in In Memoriam · T·r·a·c·k·b·a·c·k address · Direct link · Email post
well...seems obvious to me. the train bombings in europe werent a bunch of funny lookin people in a poor country....
the victims look like the bad guys on 24, so we shouldnt show them...
July 11th
7/11
God rest their souls.
One reason, because it doesn't fit the "they hate us because of our foreign policy" narrative.
I remember there were some floods in eastern europe and in india at around the same time at one point. the president was gushing about how he feels bad for the victims of the eastern europe floods. no mention of the indians that were dying. same thing. one was white the other was a funny lookin untermenschen.
I thought the narrative was that "they hate our society and way of life". And that's true in India too. I think it comes down to empathy, as Puliogre pointed out.
Would be interesting to know whether coverage better tracks race or per capita GDP--anyone know?
Anna, thank you for blogging this and reminding us, and raising also the issue of why only some victims of terrorism get memorialized. I had, I am thoroughly ashamed to admit, almost forgotten this event. It is to the great credit of Bombay-wallahs and Mumbaikars that they put it behind them very quickly and moved ahead with their frenzied lives - but that does not, and should not mean forgetting what happened.
In my case, Bombay is not only the city I was born in, it is also the city in which I currently have relatives - from extended family - living near many of the railway stations mentioned, almost all of which I have myself been at some time or other, so it is doubly a matter of shame for me to have forgotten this.
Thank you again.
even in things like muggings. if its a whyte victim, and a colored assailant. the race of the assailant will be mentioned. if its a white mugger, they dont mention his ethnicity, etc.
"So the question becomes why are the Mumbai blasts largely being ignored or forgotten by the MSM in the US? Not trying to play a victim card here but fair is fair. Blasts of more or less similar magnitude. Death toll counts in the same range. Same impact. Different coverage."
for the same reason that an american reporter who got to interview that pakistani cleric ghazi before he died asked him if he had trained jihadis to fight in afghanistan and iraq - no mention of kashmir, although it's highly likely that if he trained any jihadis they would also have been sent to kashmir. indian "terrorism" allegedly perpetrated by the same people with links to afghanistan and maybe iraq now just isn't that important to the west unless it somehow affects them or their soldiers or is useful to them in a selfish sort of way. if american soldiers were in kashmir, then i am sure the reporter would have included kashmir.
Same reason it has taken twenty odd years for the MSM in Canada to wake up to the fact that it was a bunch of Canadians who died in the Air India bombing in 84 - not a bunch of funny folk from away. At least they have somewhat figured it out.
>>Would be interesting to know whether coverage better tracks race or per capita GDP--anyone know?
Coverage tracks interests. Cultural and economic interests.
There are more than a million American expats in Britain and upto half-a-million American tourists every year. There are a quarter of million American expats in Spain and close to 800K American tourists in Spain every year.
How many (born)American expats in India ? Two hundred? Five hundred? How many (born)American tourists in India every year? Fifty thousand?
Britain and Spain matter more to America than India does. It will take at least a couple of more generations to change that.
M. Nam
in the US, it doesnt matter if your an american to the media. if your funny lookin, u still dont count cause your a "ferner"
mmmhhh because George Bush hates brown people?
this sort of thing pre dates bush, and will be there after he is pushin up the daisies...
Imagine if we had a memoriam for every mass killing in Iraq?
Despite all the hype, Ugly mass killings still happen in India. The naxalites murdering policemen, Kasmiri terrorists killing innocent villagers along with army personnel. Lawlessness in India's badlands... at this point one should ask who cares what others think. As long as desis remember, thats enough. Once India ushers forward to become more globally powerful these things will receive their due from foreigners. We can't force others to sympathize, they should do it of their own free will.
You are welcome, Anna :-)
The nudge was unintentional - the post was born out of frustration at the disrespect shown towards the Mumbai incident.
Puliogre in da USA (comment #1):
I agree with your assessment. No other logical explanation.
Puliogre,
Fair point--still, if India keeps booming I bet we see a lot more coverage--or, so I'm betting my career!
you some kind of journalist?
Thanks for posting this, Anna. I remember when the blast went off last year, I saw my dad's childhood home on the list of railstations that were hit. There is still a little bit of my family that lives in the area and I was so relieved when I learned that they were ok. My heart goes out to everyone that lost friends and family in the attacks.
Puliogre,
nothing that high-brow--was with MTV Desi :-(
now trying to get by in film distribution
I guess when you compare the London bombings to the Mumbai bombings, it makes more sense because those were attacks by terrorist outfits on public transportation carrying innocent civilians in areas that are largely not war-ravaged. On the other hand, comparing London, Mumbai, Madrid to Iraq will be like comparing an apple to the whole fricking orange tree.
Thank you Anna. It was such a huge catastrophe, I'm ashamed to say that I had forgotten about it, and considering that it happened so recently.
My problem is that I'm not finding anything in the Indian press about it either, and AFAIK, what we read here is just replayed from what is reported there.
There is plenty. TOI, HT, IE have covered it for sure and I saw some lesser known dailies too doing the same. Do a google news search for Bombay Blasts 7/11
this whole week has been heavy, can we have some light reading please? has there been any coverage on Ash and Shek? or has their marriage ended in hell?
Chachaji, same goes for me, close relatives too. ANNA, thanks for posting this. It was a tragic incident, the true impact of which none of us outside of Bombay will ever really know. But Mumbaikars, like New Yorkers, and Londoners, are resourceful, smart, and united when they need to be--that's the beautiful part about that city. The Times of India at one point was doing a daily profile of various victims' stories. Simple writing, but gut-wrenching stuff to read. I know the BBC had extensive coverage of the event, but I totally agree that there was a lack of respect - at least from media in the States - re Bombay victims.
May God(s) rest the souls that were lost.
Why should we memorialize victims of terrorism?
This is not a snarky question.
I dont think anyone here is asking for sympathy, so much as empathy/understanding. Yes, this happend it to your people and it was horrible. You don't need to take pity on the po' brown folk but I think people here are asking that they understand and show some compassion and respect. As far as the other part of your comment: are you saying that it is ok if only Americans remember NYC, the British remember London, and the Spanish remember Madrid? I think all of those events should be acknowledged by the whole world don't you?
I guess there would be a couple of aspects to this. Ideally such memorialization should be used not just for remembrance but for retrospection and to see if we have learnt anything form it. Have we taken steps to make sure it does not happen again, are we making sure we are alert and more secure, are we trying to attack the root causes of this terrorism. But heck, these things never happen - it usually ends up being a photo op for some politician and more often than not these days, acts as a reminder of why some brave people need to go and die in Iraq.
The other aspect is for the people close to the victims to remember the ones they lost. However, again if there is just empty remembrance at the public level, it does not really help much but if there is some purpose behind the remembrance it helps them feel that their loved ones were not lost in vain and something good did come out of it.
It's not covered in the news because there are very few ways to construct a narrative without making some communities feel scapegoated or causing others to feel empowered to seek revenge. I would find myself mute on the topic if I were an Indian reporter.
There are 500 American born children in the American school in New Delhi alone. I would guess the number is closer to 15,000. Your point is well taken nevertheless.
Unlike the Madrid bombings? 7/7? And it's not as if they'd covered the rampant floods in Bombay just 2 weeks after Katrina.
Guys, it is covered in the news, please see my post #26
Ardy, sorry I should have been clear. I am talking about coverage in the American media.
Interesting observation by our friends at uberdesi ... My take is that being descendants of the Europeans, White america feels a lot, lot closer to them than the rest of the world. UK has always been a 'partner in crime' ( quite literally too, when you think of iraq ), and India can't even begin to compare themselves to it's European counterpart, with respect to American MSM. Like someone above mentioned, it will take a few more generations of desis in MSM for America to look fondly towards India ... that is, provided India doesn't produce any more terrorists.
bombay is a bad-ass town.....easily the best city in india....it has a lot of rio in it.......the girls are sooooooooooooooooooooo hot....plus it's real close to goa (cubana/baga beach is very similar to opium garden in miami beach)....i went on the train from churchgate to juhu beach and it was a hellacious ride.....they should build a subway....i can't believe helli has a subway and bombay does not.....alphonso mangos are where it's at......the shopping at the taj hotel is off the hook too....they shut down their nightclub though and we had to go all the way to juhu late nite....the local kids have beef with you if they see you're a foreigner and you're dressed real sharp. they don't want to be outdone by anyone.....the whole west side is very hot, they should fix up the beach though, make it a real beach...too bad i only got to spend 4 days there. i will have to go back soon.
There's a section of Miami Beach called Opium Garden? What's it like there. I wasn only in South Beach for 3 nights.
Been to Bombay once but did not get to sight see or explore the town at all, so can't say I had as much fun or even saw fun, like you write about above. Been to Goa also for 3 days only and did the bus tour thing and evening sunset cruise which was nice, but nothing outstandingly wow or amazing.
Tell me where to go next time I'm in Mumbai or Goa and what the "vibe" is like.
We have identified each of Mumbai’s 7/11victims, but a year later remain clueless about the bombers. [Indian Express]
BTW, the IE says the number of victims were 187! Did not know that there is a disagreement on the causality figure.
If the bonhomie is that fragile, we are not going to get anywhere. The UK had done precious little pre-9/11 to stem the flow of money from Britons to jihadis in Kashmir and the US funds a state that in turn funds terrorists operating in India. If anyone in the West points a figure at India I will loudly remind them of this.
I asked why we should commemorate such incidents at all. Ardy listed a couple of reasons.
If understanding it is the answer, then note that both the govt as well as the media in India downplayed the possible narratives (Manju #5 and Rahul #7) because as Louiecypher pointed out, these narratives are perceived as anti-Muslim, and unlike the US, India has more Muslims as well as more vote-mongering politicians. This is also the reason why responses in London were muted; presumably due to its multiculturalism. Responses in the US are immaterial according to this; why should the US want to understand the socio-politics when we ourselves don't?
If compassion is the answer, firstly, as many pointed out, India doesn't have the clout as yet. Secondly, I hope it is clear to all that we are demanding compassion not towards the victims but towards ourselves, as a society that suffered such terrorism. This seems too wussy to me. Either you have the clout for people to pretend to be compassionate towards you, or you don't.
Leaving aside the eternal question, "Why does the American press ignore India?" - keep in mind that such lack of scrutiny is a boon for New Delhi. India only takes action under certain circumstances - when borders are forcibly changed (Kargil) or when the legitimacy of the state is challenged (Punjab in the 80's, Kashmir in the 90's, Maoists). They take action then because it affects them directly.
OTOH, one-off terrorist attacks like the Bombay trains is shocking, but is not a threat to the state. And as has been discussed before, such men often have political patrons. Next thing you know, people will demand that the rioters in Gujarat be brought to justice, or the anti-Sikh pogroms of 1984 be re-investigated. How about looking into looking links between Maoists and the CPI? Better to let sleeping dogs, and dead loved ones, lie.
If New Delhi does not get too worked up over such attacks, why should CNN?
All you guys missed a point. There is no point in blaming the US MSM when Indian MSM largely ignores anything related to Hindus. We as a country don't care much about our own countrymen,soldiers or police officers. We just forget and move on the next day. It is quite sad but it is true. Our media and politicians became so poltically correct and terror lovers that it is impossible to get a fair coverage of the terrorist attacks in India. It is always blame the victim case. So of we as a country don't respect our own citizens no body in the world is going to respect us and the world media will ignore us.
Karthik, well said.
Really?
Guys, this frustration can be extended to a lot of things. The fact is that it is only a minority of people who matter. And it has every bit to do with economic might and race. And its worse with countries in Africa that are on the lower end of the scale. (Most people probably didn't know about Rwanda before the movie).
Has anyone here ever spoken to a Kashmiri Pandit family? They will speak with resentment about how they were driven out of their own homes; how an act of ethnic cleansing was committed against them and the Govt of India did nothing to protect them. "Refugees in their own country" is the term attributed to them. Its the same with every terrorist attack - the numerous bombings in Delhi, the Parliament attack in 2001, etc, etc. People in India move on because they are used to it. It happens year after year, and its pretty much a part of life now.
As for ignorance, I'd also like to note that most Indians care about this only because its Bombay, and as mentioned in some of the earlier comments a lot of Indians in the US fail from there. What percentage of people here know what the Naxalite movement is about, for example? Naxalites have at least been mentioned a couple of times here. How many people know the full form of ULFA?
SM Intern, Karthik #44 is not me, could we please get a change in the handle. I would appreciate it for the sake of clarity.
Rahul, which part do you not agree with? he makes two points:
(a) Indians do not care as much about their soldiers and victims.
(b) the coverage of and outrage over terrorist attacks is circumscribed in India because of political correctness.
I don't know much about (a), but I don't think India is much different from the U.S. in that regard. I don't think (b) is true, nor is the part about "ignoring anything relating to Hindus". I wasn't going to respond to #44, but I didn't want the approbation to go unchallenged.
Rahul, I suppose his line about "Indian MSM largely ignores anything related to Hindus" was a trollish third rail.
My opinion is much less conspiracy-theoretic, and is outlined in comments #42 and #49 I read his comment as mirroring #42
Hypertree, thanks for the clarification. I need to figure out if I believe what you and louiecypher propose as the explanation, let me think. And when there are third rails, please don't pronounce the entire area safe - I find it shocking :)
Regarding comment #7, I wasn't clear. I was saying that there is a commonly accepted narrative that puts the Indian incidents in a similar context to Madrid, London, 9/11 etc., so I was offering an opposing viewpoint to Manju's about why the U.S. media does not cover these incidents.
The death of white(r) people get more coverage in the American media than equally tragic (if not more) events in brownland.
The tragedy in Mumbai, or Gujerat similarly gets more coverage in the Indian media than naxal deaths in Chattisgarh, or victims of terrorists (and the army OMG) in Kashmir or Assam. Are these people less brown?
They are playing to the interests of the target audience.
>The death of white(r) people get more coverage in the American media than equally tragic (if not more) events in brownland.
In a similar vein, the US media covers the deaths/troubles of white Americans much more than brown Americans... Katrina was a clear example of that. Here in Philadelphia, African-American children are shot on a regular basis (we are at 400 shootings a year and rising) but their families have a terrible time getting the media to even pay attention to the problem. White kids get shot, the media's all over it.
>And its worse with countries in Africa that are on the lower end of the scale. (Most people probably didn't know about Rwanda before the movie).
Absolutely. Puliogre at #17, you're right that the problem predates Bush, but the Bush administration are champs at this stuff. I mean, Somalia? Even when US soldiers are involved, barely a blip. I think this has less to do with straight racism (though there's no shortage of that) and more to do with which unsavory activities the administration wants the media to focus on or ignore.
I'm not in India, so I won't try to comment on the question about the media there, but my question is: where's the line? If you focus too much on memorializing victims of terrorism, you risk sensationalism, and providing cover for politicians to use the attack to justify just about anything. If you don't focus on it enough, you risk being seen as 'soft on terrorism' or as being callous. What do you all think a proper or fitting way to cover this anniversary would be? If you were the editor of a major mainstream paper, what would you do?
fundesi, when in mumbai you will want to stay near the water, ie the west side. i heard a lot of jibberish that bombay is polluted from relatives/haters who had never been there and did not want me to go either. but the affluent parts of the city are clean by indian standards, cleaner than manhattan too. it is best to know someone before you go, otherwise it will take a little while to figure things out...obviously. i would strongly reccomend staying in the north/west part of the city, not far from the santa cruz airport since that's the vicinity of everything good. plus unless you rent a car there will be transportation issues if you stay in the south. city train is not an option. you may want to try it once just to see how people who live there get around, but that shit is no joke....really the only good thing in the south is the taj hotel, where they have good shops (but unless you are a resident you can get better stuff from whatever country you came from), and the gateway of india. i guess marine drive, very similar to the malecon in havana, is nice also and worth seeing.......one of my favorite things about the city is the foliage. it looks spectacular....the young people with money there smoke a lot; it is really nasty...there are lots of malls and the beautiful, beautifully attired females are everywhere. for nightclubs you will want to ask around. i was given bad info on the matter by the in-flight spiceject magazine with a spicejet employee independently corroborating the issue. all i can really say is if you want to have a good time stay in the northwest.......as for goa....we went by train from punjab and it was HELL. it took 40 hours....i think the train stopped in panji, then we took a taxi north to baga beach.....the best beaches in india are in south goa and north karnatka. until recently there were fewer tourists there too, but that has changed. that is where the best hotels are too.....north goa is where most of the tourists go, between the months of november and march.....i should tell you straight away, i would never reccomend going all the way to india just to go to goa. i have been to the beaches in miami, rio, havana, and goa is very easily in last place amongst them in any of the vital categories. we were at baga beach in late april. the tourists had mostly gone home. i had promised my cousins who i was with that if there were foreigners, especially euros, that i would get it on, and they could pull out their pencils and notepads and learn something. they, especially one of them, believed, in spite of what i had told them a thousand times, that the rest of the world lives in a repressed shell also, and no one gets to home plate before marriage. the first night there was nothing. it was very dry. we met these decently hot indian girls from florida, but i overplayed my hand. it had been a long day and at the end of it, the vociferous cousin made the declaration, "now i have seen the whole world and i it is obvious to me anyone who says they have sex without paying before marriage is lying." his idea of the whole world meant punjab and now goa, and his idea of having sex meant paying a whore, which from what they both told me is common practice amongst indian boys/men. something had to be done to shut this fool up, but i knew pressing the matter would achieve nothing. the next day i was at a travel agency buying flight tickets to helli and there was this fine looking blonde female (a 9, but to indian men a 15) sitting there with an older woman beside her. as soon as i walked in she stared me up and down about 6 times. until we left goa a few days later i hung out with her and i brought my cousins along too, to show them wats good. on the saturday night we went to this club called cubana....it is nice, similar to opium garden on 2nd and collins in miami beach...they have beds with canopies outside, a pool, a gorgeous view of the city (it is located on top of a mountain), and the inside part is ok too. plus it is open bar and the price is only 500 rupees for a couple. that was an off the hook night with a happy beginning, middle, and ending. i think some of the locals resented my behaviour though.....they love white people in india though. i think everyone knows that. it is not uncommon to love your conqueror; it is like this in africa and latin america too. people thought this girl was like jessica alba, priyanka chopra, adriana lima, scarlett johansson, ashwaria, all rolled up into one. they would have done anything to see her let alone talk to her.....the next night we went to this place called tito's....succinctly put, it is a dump.....do not go there....it is just right beside the beach, that's why they are able to trap people....our behaviour inside there was even more outrageous by indian standards. normally, i am not one to be an asshole by deviating from local customs and norms, but if they want to build a nightclub and have a party, well i will happily show them what nightclub and party beviour actually constitutes. they have these weird, imaginary things in their head from what they have seen on tv and in bollywood movies which is far removed from reality. me and her gave the other clubgoers, and especially my cousins, to whom i dedicated my behaviour, a show they will never forget. obviously they gave me respect afterwards. my favorite part of my time with her was when we were saying our goodbyes and we were making out on the street this guy driving by yelled "nooooooooooooo, don't do it, don't do it." it was hilarious.....long live the bjp ...we left goa before she did, but me and her met up again and went to agra....the taj mahal is pretty spectacular. i didn;t have any interest in going but she really wanted to so we went. when you turn the corner and see it, it is like oooooooooofffffffff.....the taxi ride back to helli was action-packed and off the hook....in conclusion i would say, just as i reccomend with every other city, find someone who has been there before because there is also a lot of crap you will want to avoid.
24/7, you reaffirm life with your joie de vivre...
As long as 24/7 is whooping it up with hotties, the terrorists have not won
louiecypher, 24/7 is the combination of the Ulyssean James Joyce mixed with Naipaul's traveling eye in India, that we've all been waiting for.
Thanks, Ardy. I was Googling Bombay bombing -- had i but known to say blasts....