Mumbai Terror – Effects on Non-Mumbaites

A week and a half have passed and the terror still grips on to one and all around the country and beyond. My cousin and his wife in London are as much amid a cauldron of worry and anxiety for their parents in Mumbai as we are, sitting here in Kolkata in the very nation of terror attacks. Analysts can easily pass it off saying it is hardly a scare for people in this otherwise lackadaisical city of joy, but trust me, it is worse.

I was at a house warming function last week and one of the little invitees was almost rampaging around the apartment posing like the terrorist he had been viewing on television for the past few days. God save these tots, but what on earth are they imbibing – terror is the best form of entertainment!!!

The maid and her daughter, the other day, landed up with an ax peeping out of their bag which they regularly carry. When asked about it, she prompted, 'don't you see in the papers and the TV there is a constant fear of life everywhere and we travel by train daily. Isn't that reason enough? You too should keep some weapon, didi, they say attacks can happen anywhere in India.'

What are we living with? Fear, hatred, disbelief? Can anything under the sun change this crisis situation that gives eerie goose bumps to one and all around?