Mumbai . . .

It's now 7:55 AM in Mumbai 11/29 - 9:26 PM Eastern 11/28. Approximately 40 hours since Mumbai's nightmare began. Massive plumes of smoke have started to spew from the Taj Palace hotel. Ominous black smoke distorts the view of the dome of century old icon. CNN-IBN has just cut to pictures of the last rites of ATS head Hemant Karkare and I honestly can't take it anymore. It's probably the 5th time in the last 3 days that i've tried to exit the video stream on ibnlive.com and the 2nd time since the attacks began that I would like to succumb to the comfort of tears. The last time I resorted to muting the video and immersing myself in bharat-rakshak.com where I read about the awesome National Security Guards ('Black Cat Commandos') comforting myself that they would soon end this nightmare. This time I'm just going to pour it all out on this blog which I revisited for the first time in two months.

Accusations and theories reek the airwaves. Familiar names like Laskar-e-Toiba, Jaish-e-Mohammed and ISI (Inter-Services Intelligence - Pakistan's CIA) have been interspersed in between the live reports of gunshots, grenade explosions and deaths of India's finest policemen and commandos. The anger is obvious and apparent on the faces of everyone, every human being deserving of being called one is shocked and angry. ' We will fight back' is a common phrase along with ' The Spirit of Mumbai shall prevail.' Politicians talk about a strong response, stringent laws, experts and analysts predict dire consequences in foreign policy . . . the common man wonders if his or her loved ones will be next . . .

Those with religious convictions 'offer condolences and pray for the victims.' 'Pray' my friends, 'pray'. . . will you pray to the same God who these terrorists swear will give them 72 virgins in heaven for their 'martyrdom' ? For Whose jihad they kill us infidels ? Of course not, your religion (interpretation of religion) is peaceful and does not condone violence in any form. ' Whether Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Jewish, Jain, Sikh . . . we are all together in condemning this attack.' Very well . . . who am I to argue with God's will, Allah's command, Karma, Fate, Destiny, the Circle of Life, edicts of Yahweh, the arrangment of the Stars, Kismet. . . you seem so sure what that means . . .

BREAKING NEWS - 8:46 AM Indian time. 10:17 PM EST on the previous day. The Director-General of the NSG announces that 3 terrorists have been killed in the Taj Palace Hotel. ' Our prayers are answered'. . . The only problem is so are theirs. . .

The fidayeen got what they wanted. More than 120 infidels died over the last 3 days. Mumbai was brought to it's knees, a sense of hopelessness prevails and perhaps India and Pakistan will assume the usual posturing and arguments about definitions of Attacks on the Innocent or Retaliation, Terrorists or Freedom Fighters, Jammu and Kashmir or Azad Kashmir . . .

Whose prayers will be answered next . . . and which Divine Being gets to be hold our species hostage tomorrow ? What platitudes will we use to describe the next tragedies ? Tune in ladies and gentlemen, this show will only end when there is no one left to watch. Better yet, why don't you pray for us all . . . prayers are always answered . . . one way or the other