With the death of 143 people and hundreds injured during the past two day, the worst is not over.
Explosions and firing continue at The Taj Mahal hotel with a solitary terrorist still in hiding inside – of the 2 or 3 seen earlier. With five hostages dead in a Jewish Center housed in Nariman House, off Colaba Causeway, not far from The Taj Mahal, tension in this megapolis prevails.
Thinly-veiled accusations by India’s Prime Minister, Mr. Manmohan Singh, along with public sentiments, fingers point towards the north-western neighbor bordering India.
Combined with US public resentment towards outsourcing of jobs to India, which somewhat affected low-level to mid-level jobs in the US, will these events of the past two days have any adverse impact on US-India relations? The economic turmoil in the US and global events such as those in Mumbai, all seem to converge in a way that seems like someone somewhere – not in the US, not in India – but outside of both these nations, is eager to see their downfall – US, a once powerful economy; and India, on its way up to becoming a powerful economy. Is the timing of the dual downfall a mere coincidence?
Will a third nation benefit in some big way if both these nations crumble? Who will rejoice at their downfall? Who is responsible for this economic and political instability?
In any case, what is rather scary, is India’s attitude – oh, we’ll bounce back, we’re resilient. We’ll look the other way, like we’ve learned to accept corruption, and poverty, among our people, and mismanagement by elected officials as the norm and routine in our daily lives. Of course, there are individuals who are indeed disturbed by the state of affairs, and are rather vocal in their expression. When this vocal outburst will morph into violence, well, only time will tell.
Words-n-Motion 