Mumbai

We are safe and sound in Delhi after a tragic weekend for India. Actually, we were in Rajasthan for the Thanksgiving weekend--in dusty hilltop resorts with few televisions and no internet--and didn't follow the unfolding events in South Mumbai the way I remember following 9/11 from the morning of the attacks on the World Trade Center to some three days later (watching almost uninterrupted). Seeing the newspapers slowly reveal the specifics of the story from the Taj and Oberoi is ever more chilling--the mindless carnage. I can't get over how little these bully commandos couched their mayhem in any articulated message or purpose. Perhaps that's why I love movies with a smart villain who, while evil, at least has a fully formed agenda and a sense of propriety, however skewed. Maybe life isn't like the movies?

We are being cautious here. I have to admit to ducking in the back seat of the car last night leaving my office building, as we drove by a nest of motorcycles and auto rickshaws. Can't get over the gnawing fear that one of them will blow up. But really, I am not sure how much safer I would be in Seattle or New York. I am concerned for Jennifer and Isaac and have pressed for more security details from the school. In the meantime, we don't focus on the fear.