The Blasts in Bangalore and Ahmedabad

I was in Mumbai waiting to board a flight to Bangalore when I heard the news about the blasts in Bangalore. I knew that my wife and daughter were out in the city having a day out and soon I received a message from my daughter that she was scared.

The phone lines were jammed but I was so lucky that I managed to contact family and friends and infact even managed to pass messages between them.

The tragedy in Ahmedabad made sad reading and viewing. The mystery however is that why was Bangalore spared ? After so many blasts in the past in various cities, I find the reasoning that it was a dry/test run for Ahmedabad rather amateurish.

I hope that all politicians will at least now wake up and look at INDIA and not their own parties, idealogy, vote banks.

But some things never cease to amaze me and bring a smile to my face. Some are as follows.

One was the crowd of onlookers surrounding the policeman clad in bomb disposal suit as he tried to defuse the bomb in Bangalore. Aren't people scared of the bomb ? Read newspaper reports that a cobbler family had kept the bomb laden flower pot for 2 days and the lady had even cut the wires hanging out !!. Maybe she had already defused the bomb ???
I drove down to Mysore road and at one site where the blast took place, I noticed a few people peering down rather cautiously down the drainage. 2 days later what they were expecting to see down that drain is anybody's guess.
Earlier today they showed on TV a policeman praying and defusing a bomb fully clad in a bomb disposal suit, but he had a helper standing by with no protection of any kind.

This can only happen in India.

Smile

Comments

Humour in Real Life Part 1

Life has been good to me, have spent significant time travelling, faced various situations and when one looks back, many were rather funny but usually in hindsight. These can lose their sting when written, but I still try. They are not in any order. Gujarat Hotel: Joined a new company and many of us at a senior level were new to the company and each other. Met up in our hotel room on the eve of a meeting in Gujarat – a dry state. Invariably the conversation came to getting alcohol and none knew what to do. One guy had a bright idea and picking up the phone ordered in a friendly but all-knowing voice – Ask Pinto to send it to the room. Obviously, there was some confusion at the other end, but my colleague confidently said – don’t worry yaar, Pinto knows everything, just tell him. Line disconnected and we ask – who’s this Pinto? He says – I don’t know but usually every hotel will have a guy named Pinto !!!!!!. Now Gujarat can have lakhs of Patel’s but not Pinto, a very Goan name bu...

The Iranian Conundrum

The middle east is a conundrum of gigantic proportions ridden by conflict, contradiction and wealth. Historically the crusades, a war between Christians and Muslims, was to gain control over the epicentre, Jerusalem as the target. That war ended in 1291, but much later Britain and France took control over much of Middle east till after World War 2. Most nations in the middle east gained independence post 1930’s. 1930s-1940s: Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Israel 1950s: Libya, Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia Post 1960s: Kuwait, South Yemen, UAE While WW2 pushed Britain and France to cede control, my surmise is the western nations understood the importance of the oil wealth in that area, and continued to exert influence. The predominantly Christian post WW2 west leveraged the inherent contradictions within the Muslim ideology. In the middle east, Saudi Arabia followed by Iran are the largest in terms of size, making them tougher to control. Post WW2, the western nations gained ...

Random Musings - November 2025

Women in Blue: If Kapil’s devils in 1983 created history to win the Men’s cricket world cup, the Harmanpreet’s angels did so in 2025 winning the Women’s cricket world cup. Watching the match was a treat and a welcome change. The sheer energy the girls had was palpably visible. When a bowler started her run up, seeing the girls especially at covers, mid off and point crouch like tigers ready to spring was sheer poetry. They reminded me of Pataudi and Brijesh Patel. The fielding of the team was excellent. Some of the girls when batting really hit powerful sixes and the sheer confidence they exuded by just standing and watching the ball cross the fence was sublime. What was really heart warming was the crowd turnout as the match finished only around midnight. The DY Patil stadium with a capacity of over 45,000 was packed to the gills and the support our women in blue got was unbelievable. I don’t think the girls expected a full house crowd cheering them and this response should mo...

Wit Wisdom and Whoop

Search This Blog