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