July 12, 2006

ABC News Now anchor Hari Sreenivasan blogs:

If you watched some of the cable networks in the United States, you might think that terrorism just reached India -- that somehow post 9/11, post Madrid, post London, India was getting a wakeup call. It reminds me of the old adage if a tree falls in the woods and no one hears it, did it really fall.

Do you remember hearing about the Diwali blasts in India last year that killed almost 60 people, how about the time terrorists attacked the Indian parliament and engaged police in a gun battle, or how about when a bomb went off at the stock exchange at the city then known as Bombay? Then again, if you listened to half the newscasts in the U.S. or even saw an Associated Press wire story, you'd notice many of the stories still calling the city by the old name. The name is Mumbai by the way - and it has been for 11 YEARS!

While the covers of Foreign Affairs, The Economist, even TIME magazine have begun to put the hackneyed "call center to the world" story to bed and begun featuring India as an up and coming global power, people don't read too much beyond that headline. There has been a significant disparity in the coverage that India gets for its economic prowess and the security challenges it faces.

Leave it to Sumit Ganguly, the Tagore Professor of Indian Cultures and Civilizations, and a Professor of Political Science at Indiana University to put it bluntly "India is as much a victim of terror as Madrid, or London, the world can't pretend that brown lives are not worth the same, terrorism is seamless regardless of where it happens".

India is a country that has managed in fits and starts to be engaged in an incredibly fragile peace process with Pakistan -- two countries cleaved apart on a drafting table as a side dish that came with independence as the main course almost 60 years ago. There have been 3 bloody wars between neighbors after a partition which caused as much heart ache and bloodshed as any family torn apart in the West Bank or the Gaza strip -- over a spectacular piece of earth named Kashmir, but that sort of history and context isn't part of the diet of information served or consumed here.

Politics are no different in India -- except that the largest democracy on earth deals with more than a billion people instead of the 300 million which the most famous democracy on earth tries to represent. The prime minister has spent a tremendous amount of his political capital on continuing to engage Pakistan in peace talks; the explosions on the rails provide a fine opportunity now for politicians in Mumbai and other parts of the country to take advantage of this tragedy to support hawkish agendas.

Business can be just as punishing as politics. The stock markets have already assigned Indian owned companies traded on global exchanges more than a slap on the wrist. Call it the terror or security premium, but now bombs in Mumbai affect bank books in Minneapolis.

Ultimately not learning about what matters to India, or the politics of South Asia will cost Americans. A democratic nuclear power sandwiched between two non-democratic nuclear neighbors, with a revved up economic engine, and a track record for dealing with terrorism in close quarters for decades, still probably won't get the sort of coverage you saw from Madrid and London.

July 11, 2006

ABC News Now anchor Hari Sreenivasan blogs:

Enough people have walked up to me in the office today wondering whether the Mumbai trains are really as crowded as the statistics or Wikipedia say they are. Yes, and then some. Getting on a rush hour train at Churchgate Station in downtown Mumbai will redefine your sense of personal space. (At left, outside Churchgate Station today.)

From the second you stand on the platform and realize that people are only getting closer to you in their attempt to get on the train -- to the moment you literally feel your feet leave the ground because the force of the crowd pushing you on board is so tremendous -- you are almost crushed by people.

Everyone dreads it, but they all have to do it in order to get on and off the train and get to and through their daily lives. Some will chant a prayer out loud as the train pulls up for its 10-15 second stop. When on the train, people let out a chuckle, smile and almost see themselves like athletes who just finished a difficult event. The rides are so crowded that people even take the train in the opposite direction to one of the ends of the lines -- just so they can try and get a seat when the train turns around. (At right, a rush hour train from SFGate.com)

Train cars are brimming with human beings. The young and macho make a habit of riding at times completely on the outside of the train, with their feet in the windowsills and fingers gripping the rain gutters. The etiquette is that if you've enjoyed a seat for half the ride, stand for the second half -- allowing the person who has been cowering over you a seat.

The rails are the life blood of a city of approximately 20 million people carrying more than 6 million people a day. While the very rich might have the luxury of being driven through the congested streets, most of the middle class still find this the most efficient way to get to and from work.

While cities like New York have instituted random bag checks on the subways, Suketu Mehta, author of an award winning book on Mumbai called "Maximum City" says there is just no way to screen for suspicious packages on a train system serving as many people. "There are fisherwomen carrying fish, people with livestock in the third class cargo compartments, everyone has a package of some sort -- when an Indian travels, he carries his home with him." (At left, police investigate one of the bombing sites.)