A Devastated Metropolis

A Devastated MetropolisAn eery familiarity with the London bombings
resonates as newsflashes are consumed with
On October the 29th three ghoulish bomb blastsimages of people crying. People's gut reactions
rocked the spine of Delhi leaving 61 dead in theirduring Dickensian bleak times like these bear a
ghastly wake. Traffic-free are Delhi's roads in anuniversal similitude.
aberrantly unambiguous metropolis. Gaudy neonThe government's social conscience transpires as
lights are dimmed. Rattled citizens areRs 3 lakh will be donated ex-gratia to the next of
house-bound. Cops at checkpoints rake akin of every dead person and the gravely injured
discerning gaze into many automobiles with awill get Rs 50,000," substantiated Delhi's Chief
flashlight fever as fear strappingly grips a cityMinister Sheila Dikshit .
paralyzed with deadly panic.Speculations are rife that this pandemonium bears
Delhi-ite Diwali festivities with their flickeringthe handiwork of perilous perpetrators
candles took a sobering thump as the glitteringLashkar-e-Toiba, with alleged ties to al-Qaeda.
saris and citizenry are interposed with aIslami Inqalabi Mahaz, reportedly contacted media
panic-stricken dyslexia. Fireworks and firecrackersin Kashmir to claim responsibility for the blasts.
are igniting every few seconds with a hithertoThe caller, who identified himself as Ahmed Yaar
unseen poignant prudence. Many would-beGhaznavi, said the attack "was meant as a rebuff
revelers sagaciously heeded the government'sto the claims of Indian security groups" that
caveat to stay within their safer sanctuaries.militant fighters had been wiped out by military
Bloodstained streets and mangled bodies ofcrackdowns and the gargantuan earthquake that
innocent mothers and children are all menacinglybattered Pakistan on Oct. 8.
spread on the ground with their arms apart.The blasts have sparked off foreseeable qualms
Tributaries of blood first blemished in Paharganj,throughout Delhi, shattering a festive atmosphere.
potted off the Main Bazaar, with a heartrendingMedia vultures and nationalistic ethnic bigots on the
massacre of 18 and seriously injured 60 victims.wrong end of political spectra will be rhetorically
The explosive device was planted in aricocheting religio-nationalistic venom across
two-wheeler. When the bomb exploded itvarious foray to notch up cross-border
completely dissected a medical shop.apprehension.
The second blast cursed a bus in GovindpuriGiven this caveat a silver lining amidst the clouds
where 4 victims died. Within minutes of theemerges as India and Pakistan agreed on October
second explosion, at 6:05 pm (IST), the thirdthe 28th to open 5 crossings along the Line of
explosion wreaked havoc at Sarojini NagarControl in the dispute-driven Kashmir, in an
market where a devastating 43 people died.endeavor to abet victims of Mother Nature`s
Forensic experts reportedly claim that theOctober the 8th devastation. Such an upbeat
explosive du choix was RDX. Testimony to thisevolution should not be dismantled by cowardly
are witnesses who state that the biggest blast athysteria-hungry terror-demons.
the Sarojini Nagar market caused a huge ball ofPlots and skirmishes have footnoted the
fire that RDX commonly creates. A chemicalsub-continent's history, warmongering coupled with
explosive had been ruled out because there wasbomb blasts sometimes provide the punctuation.
no pungent smell reported after the blast.The question is can we as a South Asian people
38 were declared dead in Safdarjang hospital, 10stem the tide and end this feudal-frenzied
in Lady Hardinge Hospital, 5 in Ram Manohar Lohiaanimosity through cross-border rapport-building ?
hospital and 2 in AIIMS.The number of fatalitiesOnly then will the spectre of the blame-game be
has rocketed up to 61 and at least 188 areremoved from the caricature of Indo-Pak
injured.relations.