Mumbai Attacks - The Seven Good Things You Should Know

Hello, readers. As we all heard, the Mumbai terror attacks started on the 26th of November this year, and the snipers are still going at it as far as we know. Now, a lot of negative things have been written about these attacks. Everything and everyone that can be blamed has been blamed - politicians, the government as a whole, the apathy of Indian citizens, the rabid communalism in India, Islamic militants, Pakistan, China, the USA, Greg Chappell, Bin Laden, etc.

But let's stop a moment and consider the positive aspect of things, shall we? Here goes, then.

1. This is India's most severe organized terrorist attack to date. Our politicians must be so happy that our country is considered powerful enough and democratic enough to provoke random killings by minority militants. "Just like USA, we are. Beer, nukes, problem with China, terrorist attacks, everything we have."

2. al-Qaida links have been touted in connection to Pakistan's hand in all of this. The USA defence ministry is probably ecstatic that India and Pakistan are not only still at loggerheads over anything and everything, but that Osama bin Laden can still be blamed for all the world's problems. [Note - US Republicans will read Osama as Obama, by the way]

3. Raj Thackeray will no longer have a political leg to stand on. More North Indians, Delhiites and Marathis died trying to protect Mumbai than Maharashtrian Mumbaikars. From a purely vengeful point of view, a great amount of grim satisfaction is due to all non-Maharashtrian people who had to suffer due to this ridiculous Raj's communal posturing. I don't know about you, but this makes me, personally, very happy.

4. Many stalwart stars of the police and special forces have died, shot fatally by the terrorist snipers in the head, guts and chest. These men were some of the bravest, most intelligent and experienced fighters on the planet. I've no doubt that criminals across the country are rejoicing at the headlines announcing their heroic deaths.

5. This attack has scared a large number of corporations, luxury hotels, apartment complexes, malls, schools, etc to step up their security measures. Indians can no longer look at CNN reporting bomb-blasts somewhere else in the world and think - that could never happen to us. From the point of view of the Indian government's security and defense branch, that's a good thing, provided people take this threat seriously in the long run.

6. The nation is horrified that this kind of thing could happen in India, in Mumbai of all places. The reality is that bombings and attacks are nothing new to certain parts of our country. What about Jammu and Kashmir, and the NorthEast? Maybe now that people in the financial capital of the country know what it feels like to live under the threat of violent death, there will be more sympathy and help going out North and North East after a while. When people realize that every life counts, regardless of state or assets, that's an improvement in terms of common humanity.

7. In hotels like the Taj, the terrorists released more white foreigners than they did Indians, and many more Indian citizens were killed as opposed to rich Caucasian
people who were held hostage. Maybe I sound overly bitter, but this should at least reassure the tourism industry that India is a safer place for Western tourists than it is for our own people.

Please, leave a comment with feedback if you did/didn't like this post.

Much love,

Trisha.

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Birthday Blues

17 years ago today, my mother saw me for the first time, screamed, and fainted. subsequently she warned me that i had better be worth the trouble. i wasn't.

today, i'm running a mild but weakening temperature, not helped by the thought of an economics test tomorrow (aaarrgghh) and no party until the weekend.

the good part? tons of messages and birthday wishes from all the right people, starting from midnight yesterday.

am missing one day of school (read piles of mind-numbing notes) and falling back on certain Assignments. bleh.

this stupid fever started on saturday. since then i've been having horrific half-waking dreams where killer scarab beetles eat bugs bunny.

note to self :- WHY ME?

i spent sunday night wrapped in two bedsheets and wearing one grey sock in bed (the other one is now my cousin's sock-puppet, apparently) dreaming about achieving normalcy. sobbed myself to sleep, convinced that i was going to die. woke up and resolved to start believing in divinity from Monday.

today is wednesday. i am still an atheist. so much for deathbed promises. i miss lollipops. and pal

seriously, though, why? did i commit a heinous murder in some previous reincarnation? is that why i must spend my birthday with a sniffle, a headache, stuck at home, alone except for some friendly cake in the fridge?

and i've spent so much time convincing myself i'm not sick, i almost passed out in school yesterday. today, for a change, i passed out at home instead. my mouth tastes of mint toothpaste in particular and sour bitterness towards my life in general.

to anyone who's had the patience to read this far - i haven't always been so crazy, i'm just woozy today, that's all. please leave a comment, just to make me feel better about dying. thank you.

trisha

16 minutes later

my father just called to check up on me, and 5 minutes later jayanti aunty from flat number seven turned up with quiet sympathy and noodles. i sense the beginnings of a warm fuzzy feeling in the general location of my left ribs. i wonder if this is what groveling gratitude is supposed to feel like.


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Chocolate Cake

ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, today i will be behaving very self-indulgently at the nearest pastry shop. just to prove to myself that the TOTALLY mind-blowing experience i am about to have is really really real, i'm putting up my cake
wish-list here. hee hee.


trisha

Happy Birthday Suki Di

dear suki di

a million apologies for my cluelessness in forgetting your birthday. anyway.........i have a present for you that is actually a combination of two of my favorite things- writing and chocolate. and here it is -- i call it



THE RISING OF THE CAKE-PART-I



The girl paused momentarily, torn by doubts. Already she was a heroine, having saved the day from being a catastrophe of epic proportions - death by fire must be terrible, she thought. Then she took a deep breath, and made up her mind. Closing her eyes, she lifted the ladle and added just the lightest trace of brandy to the baking garnish on the stove before her.

The redolent fragrance of eternally unwashed socks drifted through the kitchen. The syrup must have arrived then, borne by the local delivery boy(? old man by now) whose breath must surely be one of the first warning signs of armageddon. Ushering him out, she turned back to her first love, the oven. The cake had risen.

Two hours later, the cake stood, imposing as a behemoth at bay, towering on the dining table. Like all great kings, it was grand and intimidating in its power on the outside. Inside, however, it was just a mushy, gooey, sticky core of blissful indulgence.

The base was a solid yet crusty platter of mocha biscuit. The lower foundations of the cake were made of sweet, crumble-as-you-touch classic brown walnut cake, encrusted with sizeable chunks of milk-and-cherry chocolate. The second layer, tapering to the third on top, was a soft creamy layer of soft coffee chocolate, the lightest and cloudiest of milk white frothy cream, and a dash-just a dash-of freezing cold blackcurrant syrup, running like a vapour trail through the whole layer. This layer was seasoned with a sprinkling of chocolate chips and the faintest whiff of brandy that hovered only at the surface and disappeared as you sank into the heavenly chocolate bliss of it all.

But the topmost layer-that was literally the royal jewel in the crown. Set like a chocolate boat atop this delicious edifice, it was a large-ish shallow cup made of chocolate biscuit wafer, and swimming with chocolate syrup. Gently floating in the middle was a cake island, made up of delicate-looking yet tough petals of black bitter chocolate, which surrounded a cup-sized flower. The gently placed core was a small ball of pure, sweet chocolate rolled around a cherry, and encrusted in a coral shaped layer of a mixture of coffee wafer, chocolate syrup, vanilla frosting, and a single candied rose-leaf. The very slight waves of the pool of chocolate syrup gave it a look of a chocolate island pleased with itself, and at peace with the world.

The heroine looked on proudly, the light of love and joy in her eyes as her creation rested in a magnificient pose on the table. Suddenly, as she looked down to wipe the last of the tasting spoons, still lightly smeared with melted milk chocolate, on her apron, the door burst open with a thud. She wheeled around with a sharp cry of alarm to face three large men wearing balaclavas framed in her doorway. Her glance fell on the foremost of them, whose t-shirt bore the legend MMU. Milkshake Movement Underground. Oh god............

With a slow dawning of horror, she realized the truth. These men-these men must have heard of her cake somehow and come to plunder it. With a faint gasp of terror, she moved bravely in front of the chocolate cake, brandishing her still creamy ladle, ready to risk her all to protect the cake she loved................



FIND OUT THE REST OF THE STORY NEXT WEEK, IN "THE RISING OF THE CHOCOLATE CAKE-PART-II"

P.S-if you find this thrilling story delicious (or otherwise)please leave a comment. i'll use your suggestions and even reply if i feel like it.

MANY HAPPY RETURNS OF THE DAY, SUKI DI!! THE FORCE OF THE CHOCOLATE IS WITH YOU......



trisha