November 2008 – David Kotz

Mumbai terrorist attacks

What lessons can we learn?

Today, the kids and I spent the afternoon at the park and then went out for dinner in the center of town. All seems normal. Indeed, it was very pleasant to watch so many families out to enjoy the playground, with dozens of children running, swinging, and climbing, eating ice cream and popcorn.

And yet, as we waited for a table in the restaurant, the television shows nonstop news coverage of the terrorist attacks in Mumbai, 1,000 km from here [Location]. Although Bangalore seems to be going about its business, in talking with people it is clear that many are shaken. Despite the fact that terrorist attacks are all too common here – something like six attacks in the past six months, in various parts of the country including Bangalore – the nature of this one was different. One IT executive who has lived here for 10 years told me that this was the first time he was scared… in large part because this time they weren’t just placing a bomb and then running away, but because they were brazenly and openly attacking people.

Photo by Arko Datta/Reuters – snipped from the New York Times.

The media attention also made a big difference. This incident played out live on television, over three days, and that has a significant impact on people. The psychological effect, which of course is the whole point of terrorism, is amplified by the media.

It remains to be seen how things will change as a result of this incident. There are elections coming in a few weeks, and the politicians are already making terrorism a major election issue. I’m hoping that they can all learn a lesson from watching the families at the playground today. Muslim families, Christian families, Hindu families. One little girl – a Hindu – was helped onto the swing by another girl’s mother – a Muslim. This is India.

This post was transferred from MobileMe to WordPress in 2020, with an effort to retain the content as close to the original as possible; I recognize that some comments may now seem dated or some links may now be broken.

More IISc wildlife

I finally got some good pictures of the black Kites.

I’m not sure whether the RSS feed highlights new photo albums, so here’s a quick entry to point out that I’ve added another small collection of IISc photos. Plenty of flowers, and I finally got some good pictures of the black Kites. [location]

An Indian Obama?

Could it happen in India?

Ever since the election, the media has been full of stories about Obama, and editorials about whether it might be possible to have such a thing happen here in India– a minority elected president. Perhaps a Muslim, or a Dalit.

In today’s Times of India, there is a very interesting opinion piece by Ashutosh Varshney about why he thinks it won’t happen:

“First, party establishments cannot easily be challenged until there are open intra-party elections for the leadership of political parties.”
“Second, the US has a presidential system, India a parliamentary one. Since a US president is elected by the whole nation, a presidential system creates a national political arena.”
“Third, to mobilise citizens for vote, one has to speak in a language that the citizens can understand.” The India electorate is multilingual.

Why I love living on campus

We live in faculty apartments on the campus of the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), in Bangalore.

When we visited Bangalore last August, the prime mission for our visit was to find a place to live. Many expats live in some of the snazzy new apartment complexes or walled-in gated communities of villas. We live on campus at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), and are so glad we had that option and made that choice. [location]

Forest path in the center of IISc campus.

it’s like living in a park, with trees and wildlife everywhere
there is lots of wildlife (check out my photos, or this amazing Flickr album, by a grad student)
I walk to work (2 blocks!), skipping the numbing traffic of Bangalore most days
it’s quiet – because there’s no traffic and there are lots of trees
the air is cleaner – because there’s no traffic and there are lots of trees
it’s safer – because it’s a gated community with guards at all the gates
the power, telephone, and water are reliable, unlike other parts of the city (which suffers through 4hr power outages most days)
there are many on-campus services, including a restaurant and little independent shops: tailors, hairdressors, drycleaner, travel agents, copiers, bookstore, bike repair, vegetables, milk, bread, sundries
we have access to facilities like the gym and pool
my kids’ schoolbus stops at the gate on the edge of campus
my kids can safely play and bike in the streets
there are lots of kids in the neighborhood, and they all speak English; my kids have friends
they have free kids movies on some nights
the neighbors are all professors, and friendly.

It’s not perfect, to be sure – there is a surprising amount of trash around, and a clear lack of maintenance. But this is so much nicer, on the whole.

This woman had a fascinating face and a stunning sari. I should have asked her to stop.

Monkey bars – the sequel

Always bring a camera when doing laundry.

OK, sometimes it just happens. You write a blog entry one day, about the monkeys, and the very next day a dozen monkeys come by while you’re hanging laundry. They are actually Bonnet Macaques and are common in this part of India. I used photos from our visit to Mysore, but I described anecdotes about them breaking into apartments here at IISc. Today, I happened to be on the roof hanging laundry, and a band of monkeys strolled across the roof. My new personal rule– never hang laundry without your camera at hand – paid off handsomely.

A Bonnet Macaques seeking food on the rooftop of our apartment building at IISc.

This group, with at least a dozen monkeys, traveled through the trees and landed first on my neighbors’ roof. They strolled across the connecting stairwell, around my laundry, and down into the narrow courtyard that separates us from another neighbor. In that courtyard, they scrambled across the clotheslines (and clothes), explored the windows in hopes of finding one open, and entered a foyer in hopes of finding a door open. In the foyer they found what appeared to be apple peels wrapped in newspaper. These they nibbled as they climbed back up and headed on their way across the next roof.

I took over 200 photos, but selected a few good ones.

Monkey bars

We share the IISc campus with a large troup of monkeys.

When we moved into our apartment on campus, I noticed that there were bars on all the windows, even though we live on the second floor. Indeed, there are bars on all the windows of the academic buildings, too. People warned me about theft, and I assumed the bars were to keep out thieves.

*The monkeys of Chamundi Hill attempt to raid a kitchen in Mysore*.

The monkeys of Chamundi Hill attempt to raid a kitchen in Mysore; if you click and look closely, you can also see a huge spider that happened to be between me and the scene of the crime.

I was half right. The bars are there to keep out thieving primates, but not specifically humans. These pictures are from off-campus, but there is a band of monkeys that lives on campus and we have had one hanging on the bars of our dining-room window, eyeing the bananas on the table. Our neighbors tell stories of monkeys strolling into the house, opening the fridge, and walking off with whatever tastes good. We often see them poking through the outdoor trash bins (there are no covered dumpsters here).

When I stopped to take these pictures, on Chamundi Hill in Mysore, Pam and the kids continued walking. Pam was carrying a small bunch of bananas we had brought for our snack during the outing. Zip! they were gone from her hand, before she had even noticed the monkeys. The following photo shows the monkey stuffing its cheeks with our bananas.

This monkey grabbed the bananas right out of Pam’s hand, while she was walking to Chamundi temple in Mysore. His mouth is stuffed with banana.

I’m told these monkeys are Bonnet Macaques.

Update: the next day, a dozen monkeys lumbered by while I was out hanging laundry on the roof.

Post-election Obamania

Obamania has hit India, too.

Obamania is here in India, too. There is much talk of it among my colleagues; even my taxi driver mentioned it and affirmed that Obama is a “good man”. The Times of India gleefully noted the appointment of an Indian-American to his transition team, Sonal Shah from Google. They have also reported on a group, though small, of African-Indians, largely from east Africa, who were celebrating in the streets.

“There are two contrasting images of America abroad. One is that of a bullying superpower that undertakes bellicose military adventures abroad, epitomised by Iraq. The other is that of a land of hope and opportunity, an open society that welcomes migrants and where merit and talent matter for much more than ethnic background or kinship ties.” [Times of India] There is general relief that America has recovered its senses. Furthermore, “Obama will be America’s first true multicultural president, with something of Asia and Africa in him.” India, like other nations, looks forward to a multilateral approach with an increased awareness of Asia in general. The New York Times noted that the “Election Unleashes a Flood of Hope Worldwide”.

More deeply, India is struck by the fact that the nation formally known as racist has remembered its core values and actually elected a black man to the presidency. “Yes, he can”, noted the Times of India in its editorial. India, the world’s largest democracy and an incredibly diverse one at that, still struggles with caste, religion, and regional differences in its politics.

Obama’s trademark line, “Yes, we can” and the amazed recognition that someone of mixed race and an unusual background can actually become US President, are deeply resonant here. I see India, as a country, deeply proud of its achievements in the past decades and with clear aspirations to become one of the leading countries of the world. The reasonable are quick to recognize that the country is far from perfect, but there is a profound optimism that India will only become more important on the world stage. Obama’s personal journey is inspirational to their national journey.

Anticipating the US election

Perspective from India.

It has been interesting to read what the Times of India — one of the leading English-language dailies — has to say about the election. Today’s paper edition has a full-page spread with three interesting articles:

Obama Nation? and why do we care?

The United States of Indamerica in the making

US & us: United they stand, divided we fall

Their website has a special election-coverage page.

Their online poll asks “Will Obama make a better president than McCain?” and the answer (at this writing) is 83% yes, 15% no.