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How did you get to know about the blast?
My brother called from home telling me that there was a blast in Kormangala. He was worried and asked me if it was close to my office. I assured him that I was safe.

What was your first reaction?
I was a bit skeptical, with all the news channel that we have today. I checked the net. There was no news about it. My office has a TV. So I walked to check it out incase there was any news there. I saw that people were standing around it, but they were watching India play Sri Lanka. I was relieved. But as I entered my work area, a colleague confirmed that there was indeed a blast in Bangalore, infact there were three. It was now that I was a bit panicky. I called up my wife and informed here. She thought I was kidding. Then I called back home. Asking them not to worry and that both, my wife and me were safe. I also told them that now the phone lines will be jammed, so not to worry if my cell was not reachable.

Then?
Then we all went to check the news. By the time we reached, there were talks of 5 blasts. People were really worried, frantically calling their family and friends. You know at this point of time, the images of Mumbai serial blast came to mind, next thing was that it was Friday, just after the midday namaz. So, yup, I was scared, we all were. I once again called up my wife, asked her not to leave her office. Stay put. And told her that mobile lines will be jammed and not to panic if my cell was not reachable.

After that, eyes were glued to the tele.

So you were scared?
Yup, at that point of time, yes. I was not sure of the intensity of the blast.

How did office colleagues react?
Well most people I work with are kannadigas. They were in utter disbelief that this was happening in their Bangalore. You see, Bangalore people, like us Goans, are by nature calm, going about their own life. The most that they worry about is traffic.

How did the city react?
Surprisingly, the people of Bangalore didn’t react much after the initial chaos that happened. We were asked to leave office early. On the way back into city, we saw people going about their usual place. There were no traffic jams. If you hadn’t known about the blast then you wouldn’t even notice anything unusual.
By late evening, I thought the city would die down, but no. It was life as usual. The next day I had a booked a ticket for a movie. My wife insisted that I don’t venture out, but she herself had to attend office in the city. So I told her that I would see the situation outside and then decide. I went to the multiplex. There was crowd like usual. There were security checks but other than that it was normal. I saw the movie. It was houseful. Infact all the shows were houseful.

So what do you think about the people who carried out this heinous act?
I think that they are basically a sad bunch of people. A cause for embarrassment to all their near and dear ones. Anyways, they did create chaos for a few hours, but beyond that, nothing! Life goes on! The only thing that they manage to do was probably make a lot of money for the telecom operators, they must have made a killing this last Friday!

Any more thoughts.
Well, to the people who carried out the attacks, Get a life!

” If anyone wants a first hand look of the Indian democracy, then please switch to the next available Indian ‘news’ channel. Showing now, ‘The Great India Tamasha’, live from the Parliament, 2 days only!!!. “

It’s so tragic, that it’s actually funny that we have such hypocrites as representing us in the Parliament. I am sure, not more than a few handful know anything about the Nuclear deal. Yet they will vote on the issue and make it look as if they are doing so because the people they represent compel them too.

For the record, I would like the Nuclear deal to go through, for I would rather live and hope that some day in my life time, in most places in both rural, urban India, there will be electricity, connectivity than prepare for a doomsday when we fire nuclear weapons on each other and die anyways!

As we all know, The Sunday Times of India is an extended edition. In addition to the news, it has articles from various prominent personalities. Two such personalities are Shashi Tharoor, and Shobhaa De. The articles by these two on this week’s edition caught my attention. Shashi’s screamed ‘Too bad we can’t have a leader like Sarkozy‘ while Shobhaa De’s read, ‘Jawani Diwani‘. Ok, so first thing first, Shashi, Ofcourse we can’t have a leader like Sarkozy, because we are not France. We are a blend of a billion plus individuals, who don’t speak the same language, are mostly Hindus yet pray to different gods, have been cataclysmically classified into the senseless hierarchy of castes, celebrate different festivals, eat different cuisine, have different traditions, have different lines of thoughts, views, have localized issues, are not educated enough, have to fight everyday to get access to life’s basic necessities, are living in a ‘developing’ nation, are surrounded by non democratic neighbors, are subjected to terrorist brutalities, are home to illegal immigrants. Yes, if we were like France, we would have a leader like Sarkozy, I would even suggest that we would find someone better than him from amongst the billion. It’s not easy juggling the aspirations of extremely diverse billion people, which call India their home. I see it as nothing short of a miracle that we even have a democracy and have sustained it for the last 60 years. I guess it’s easy to sit in an audience and be mesmerized by an orator who uses charm and wit to influence his audience, not that there is anything wrong with that, Sarkozy is a politician, he has to, but you Mr. Shashi, must also soak in the ground realities in India. We are not perfect, but we are doing well!

Next, the socialite, Shobhaa De. Hers is not an article but a cheeky summary of week’s event using some witty adjectives from the comfort of her home surrounded by, what I assume, are her uber - elite friends from Mumbai. She mentions three young ’single’ Indians who were in news this week, Dhoni, Rahul Gandhi, and Prashant Tamang. The article looks promising, but then as one skims through it, the realization is dawned that she only understands and can articulate the cricket related story. Sadly Rajiv and Prashant are just mentioned to, maybe prove to the readers that she is indeed aware of the week’s ‘people in the news’ but in no ways, well versed enough to comment on their actions, or talent as in the case of Prashant.

My point is that it’s nice that Times can get these ‘well-known’ people to write articles, but it doesn’t guarantee that these would enrich the lives of the people who read them. These two articles, this Sunday, are in my mind nothing more than ordinary views that anyone one with some inclination to writing can come up with. These are just words to fill up space. And seems like the authors can get away with them. I would want the Times, at the very least to provide for a forum to question, commend, argue the views expressed, rather than SMS a number conveying my like or dislike of the article.

Anyways, just my two cents!