Saturday, October 29, 2005

Blast!

I'm switching between NDTV 24x7, Star News and Aaj Tak right now trying to find out a bit more about the serial blasts that have happened in the city today. So far there are no concrete numbers for how many people have died - the number might be as big as 50. I have seen quite a few dead (and charred) bodies on a couple of the channels from the Sarojini Nagar blast. The scene is bad, the city will probably go into lock-down, there will be hundreds of cops swarming the streets. Everything is chaotic, mobile networks are down, of course, the media is totally chaotic, everone is falling over each other to be more gory than the other, that said Sidharth is doing a great job on ND. I've gotten calls from friends in Bombay - asking me if I'm fine. Which I am, I'm sitting in GK and don't plan to move for a bit.
At times like this, I hate Pakistan and I think that all terrorists should be hanged till they die. I support the death penalty at times like this. I really do.
2100IST UPDATE : According to NDTV there have been 37 bodies recovered already at Safdarjung. The Sarojini blast was quite obviously the worst - it seems to have been planted at a chaat shop, next to a milling crowd in one of the most crowded markets in the capital. The narrow lanes and loads of nylon clothing must have made it an inferno. And then there is that very Indian habit of crowding around an accident scene, making the job of the police a lot worse. The government has declared an 'Emergency' in Delhi and many of the streets have cleared out. The PM is rushing back to Delhi to assess the impact of the blasts.
All on a day that India was trying to offer help to Pakistan. Ungrateful buggers.
Late night UPDATE : I spoke to Sidharth of NDTV who is stuck at SN Market an he says that the scene is rather gruesome. Another friend Vikram who shoots for the Express sai that Safdarjung is full of dead bodies, the sight is rather depressing. The collective psyche of this city is down, three days before Diwali, there are almost no crackers being burst today. The lights outside peoples homes are out. Card parties (an event raised over and over and rather unnessescarily by Barkha Dutt) are being cancelled. But this city is resilient and it will survive. Say whatever you want to about Delhi, this is my city and I love this city and no fucking piece of terrorist scum is going to get away with this.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ah, was wondering if you were out and saw the comment on my blog. Good that you are safe.

The footage is shamefully graphic and most of it uplinked and played out stuff, there is no way they should have run it on air.

The phones are working again thankfully and most people I know are safe, thank god.

Anonymous said...

I'm just really glad you guys and your family and friends are safe. This is just so terrible. Just when we thought we had emerged from the worst cycle of violence in the 80s and 90s. But this too shall pass. We're made of sterner stuff.

Anonymous said...

i was out to discover how many Indi-journos blog. I bumped into one that your ex ed's ... and realised u've hit on it just before I did :-)

Anonymous said...

Right after I'd posted the comment, I had to go out to ferry out a friend who was stuck at Defcol and was expecting there to be chaos and so on. At least most of south delhi was quite calm, even though I was prepared to flash the 'prass kard', it was not required. Morning is here and I hear all the familiar sounds, the city might be high on aggression levels, but the city rocks too :)

K said...

This is a great city, everything is back to normal.