A thousand cuts

A few weeks ago we were having a spirited discussion on schizm entering indian lives seperating out hindus and muslims with respect to riots and terror attacks in India. There was a widespread viewpoint on the number of lives lost as collateral damage and the one argument that was pretty prevalent was that the hindus have been subjugated for over 800 years and this was bound to happen.

Sadly this view has been shared by well educated people and anyone objecting to the viewpoint is labelled a "secularist" almost as if thats a curse word. Justice for any oppressed group has no place in the current scenario.

Now my city of bombay has been attacked (again) and I'm sure as more news of the islamic groups being behind it come out, that viewpoint will be further reinforced. While my city is knocked down again (I dont know if it still has the ability to come back up), the terrorists might have finally succeeded in completely alienating the hindu and muslim population. India has been cut and now left to bleed to death.

The long road travelled

I've been in london the past couple of nights and its been at its cold rainy and dreary best, reminding me of chicago another place that I really really dont want to go back to. The last time I was in london, I had covered the major touristy places and I wanted to do something else this time around.

Considering I walked around all european cities that I've visited in this trip without taking any of the local public transportation, I decided to walk around london as well. I headed towards lords cricket stadium to check it out (take that mihir) and then walked towards central london after it. Heading down Baker street past the fictional residence of the great detective living on the street, I found out that there is a real museum dedicated towards the fictional person.

Giving the weather on this island, soon enough it started to drizzle and considering I was near the British Museum, thought of spending the afternoon at the museum. Being free added to its allure and I spent the next few hours walking around the massive museum.

Headed out of the museum in the early evening, noticed that the rain hadn't stopped and only increased. Since this was my last night in europe, I decided that the cold rain shouldn't stop me and spent the next couple of hours roaming around the streets of london. Finally being cold and tired, I headed back to my hostel.

Its time for me to bid goodbye to europe. The cold and rainy weather in london is probably not the best send off and I really hope I never have to visit this city again, though I would love to visit mainland europe again. The old body is a little tired with the constant travelling and the about 10 hour daily walking sessions, so though I really dont feel like heading towards the cold in chicago, it will be nice to have a few days of relative quiet and restfulness of home.