Pondicherry

Last weekend my childhood friend Imani, whom many of you may know, came to Pondicherry for her friend's wedding. Pondicherry is an Indian Territory located within the state of Tamil Nadu that is a former French Colony. It's sort of infamous with Indian tourists as being this wonderful place, although I had heard mixed reports from friends. So I came down to Chennai on Friday and we drove in a very packed van into Pondicherry that evening.

We stayed at a beach "resort" that was pretty standard quality for these parts but the beach was nice, as it was private and therefore clean. It was too hot to sun bath but we did hire a boat to take us out into the sea to swim. They used one of the fishing boats that all seem to be donated by NGOs post tsunami. We were far enough out to see the coastline but barely. We jumped in the ocean and since the current was strong we held on to a rope and just floated with our life jackets. The best part they pulled everyone back on board by grabbing their hands. I don't know what happened to me because I wasn't the biggest person but I ended up pulling the guys into the water. First I pulled them over my head. Then when they tried again one ended up going backwards off the other side. I still laugh every time I picture it. We did get to swim in the shore as well, which is nice cuz many Indian beaches aren't swimmable.

Pondicherry wasn't impressive. Not enough street vendors with baguettes. See Cambodia was a French colony and they had baguettes everywhere so I had high expectations. Cuz non-indian bread (naan, roti, chipati) isn't any good, a step lower than wonder bread, I like to say. There were a few french buildings but really it was a standard indian town.

It was really nice to have a beach break, though and it was wonderful to see Imani! Since she knew the bridge and groom from Amherst there was whole Amherst contingent. I really enjoyed some of the girls but I got to say, how many great women can I meet before I meet a great guy???

Sunday I went to Mumbai for work. There's been a lot said about the spirit of Mumbaikars and it's true that the trains are running (although stopped for several bomb hoaxes) and people went back to work the next day but the city is hurting. Almost everyone knew someone who died - Indians have large family/friend networks. The newspapers are all about it, profiles of the injured and dead and speculation on who is responsible. I saw a horrible bollywood film, we walked out at intermission (yes, they have intermission).

Do I have to talk about bombings?

Sigh, well I guess I should talk a bit about the Mumbai bombings as I understand they are getting a lot of press. And maybe it should, using a death toll estimate of 200 (and that's India police estimate which my driver, Satender, claims is usually about a quarter of actual) - Wikipedia is listing it as the 9th largest death toll due to "terrorism". BTW the tsunami killed 287k, Bhopal disaster killed 15k and AIDS is 25million and counting.

2,986 - September 11, 2001 attacks, (New York City, Arlington, VA, Shanksville, PA, United States, 2001)
344 - Beslan School Siege, (Beslan, Russia, 2004)
329 - Air India Flight 182 (Atlantic Ocean, south of Ireland, 1985)
299 - US and French barracks bombings, (Beirut, Lebanon, 1983)
270 - Pan Am Flight 103, (Lockerbie, Scotland, 1988)
257 - 1993 Mumbai bombings (Mumbai, India, 1993)
225 - 1998 U.S. embassy bombings, (Tanzania, Kenya, 1998)
202 - 2002 Bali bombing, (Indonesia, 2002)
200 - 11 July 2006 Mumbai train bombings.
191 - 11 March 2004 Madrid train bombings, (Spain, 2004)

I don't have any personal stories - everyone in PSI has been accounted for and is okay. I'm heading there on Sunday so I'm sure I'll hear stories then.

It's been interesting to watch the reactions (mainly of the press). Three years ago they would have immediately blamed Pakistan, this time they've been more cautious. There have been so many instances of communal violence based on reports like this that I think and appreciate their immediate calls for unity. The Varinasi, Delhi and Srinagar bombings over the past few months have all been speculated to be trying to cause hindu vs muslim violence by a third party (likely Kashmir groups who don't like the peace process).

A few days earlier in a slum/suburb that I work in, Bhiwandi, there was communal violence where villagers retaliated for the police killing two civilians by killing two other policemen. It was over whether land was for a muslim graveyard or a police station.

In 1993 there were similar bombings in Mumbai which resulted in horrible communal riots/violence, people seem pretty happy that this hasn't happened this time and instead are reporting on all the cross religion aide that's been given. Okay - this isn't fun to talk about - I'm off to Pondicherry tomorrow and promise better stories:)