Things That Bang

The bomb blast at Gokul Chat Shop in Hyderabad last night reminded me of the bomb attack that happened at Roshan Ki Kulfi chaat shop in Karol Bagh about six to seven years back where one of the victims was a soon to be bride who stopped to have a chaat in between her trousseau shopping.

Back in the eighties and nineties, Delhi faced a spate of bomb attacks at shopping centers, movie halls and in buses. The Delhi public was always vigilant, even in our locality a black bag left on the roadside had the entire community in an uproar and the bomb defusing squad was called, fortunately there was no bomb just rumpled smelly clothes.

But the cops didn’t chide the locals, instead they praised their quick thinking and before leaving insisted that if we happened to see anything suspicious to report it to the cops then and there without any hesitation.

We had grown up in the shadow of terrorism. I remember one Diwali festival, when most of the Delhi-ites did not celebrate Diwali because of a massive terrorist attack. Driving through the city to go to my aunt’s place I remember thinking that I had never seen Delhi so quiet during Diwali. There were few cars on the Talkatora Roundabout and the Parliament was heavily guarded by cops. Even a child of barely eleven (which I was then) could smell the fear in the air.

Karol Bagh continued to be a happening shopping center. No amount of bomb threats kept people away from the popular eating joints in the area. Shopping and eating spicy food at restaurants happens to be the main preoccupations of most Indians and that’s where terrorists know they will find large number of soft targets.

Karol Bagh, previously a locality, became more of an over-expanded strip mall and less of a locality. Despite the new malls that have mushroomed all over Delhi, Karol Bagh, like Chandni Chowk in Old Delhi, continues to be the hub of shopping for most Delhi-ites. Ask anyone about terrorist attacks that happened in Delhi, they will surely tell you about the ones that happened in Karol Bagh.

What I cannot fathom is how we Indians are able to take terrorist attacks in our stride. Why do we return to such crowded places a few days after bomb attacks?

The day after the bomb attack at Roshan Ki Kulfi, the shop was cleaned up and it was business as usual with people pouring in to ask about the bomb attack, eat Chola Bhaturas and chaat. We were shocked when our neighbors also decided to go shopping to Karol Bagh.

My mom told them not to but their reply was, "Terrorists don’t attack the same joint twice!"

Today, I wonder would Hyderabadis also think the same way? Once all the dust settles down, would they go back to Gokul Chat?