Will you be cancelling your coming holidays to India?

Cardamom

Hey Boni -

I see you're in NY! This sort of nervous feeling is normal. I will admit that I get paranoid once in awhile on anniversaries of 9/11 or when I let my mind wander while I'm on the subway. I'm sure you and your husband will have a great trip. Just be aware of your surroundings and go with your gut instinct just as you would here in NY. Like everybody on IM is saying in these kinds of threads: you're at a higher risk of being in a traffic accident than being involved in a terrorist attack. Heck, just wait till you see the traffic in India! You'll think rush hour in Manhattan is a joke

All jokes aside, I hope you have a great trip and let us know how it goes when you get back!! If you're still a bit anxious, you can always register online with the US dept. of state so that they know you are in India in the rare event that something were to occur.

-C

capt_mahajan

Being scared, even fear is normal- not only with terrorism, but with many other things in the world.

Overcoming fear so that it doesn't rule your life is what is important, IMHO.


Having said that, what I am most scared of is a nuclear or chemical/biological attack, and not just in India.

chAos

TFOTH - sounds like MY house!
The rest of your post also made me laugh; just be sure the istriwala gets the passport pages crisp, yeah?

Cardamom, Machadinha & Vandy, y'all are cracking me up too.
C - hope you make it back soon. re: holidays with the fam, I feel your pain.
M - agree with your post on the previous page about the majority of the victims being Indian, and all that.
V - great photos & post.
...............

Seriously though, I am a surprised to hear everyone say that just after an attack is somehow safer, and that it won't happen again in the same place anytime soon.

If that wiki link is accurate, there's history in India that shows otherwise:
-March & August 2003, Mumbai
-May & August 2007, Hyderabad + 4 incidents in other places in India in 2007
-2 weeks apart in September 2008, Delhi + 8 other incidents throughout India in 2008


While I agree that one cannot live their life in fear, and that this can happen anywhere, this is clearly something that is frequent in India, and getting moreso.

(I must admit, I remembered the Hyderabad and Mumbai ones were close together and went to look up the dates for this post, and now am feeling less secure that I when I started. )

Granted, everyone is saying this time it's different, so things will change. I hope so.

Dilliwala

What are you talking about?
The Prime Minister is Sikh. The head of the ruling coalition is Christian. The Defence Minister is Christian, plus another of Cabinet rank. 2 others of Cabinet rank are Muslim. One Cabinet minister is an atheist. Another is a Hindu, married to a Christian, whose wife raised their sons in accordance with Hindu traditions (but some big temple in Kerala refuses all 3 men entry, consequently ). And there are more Muslims, a Sikh and a Christian at lower ranks.

This is the most secular govt in the world.

If you mean that the majority of ministers are Hindu, how wud you describe govts across Europe, the Americas, East and Southeast Asia, and Australasia?
(I am of course referring to countries without a state religion).

TheFoolOnTheHill

Bonitag: if you're going to be scared, pack scared and arrive into a sea of friendly taxi-wallahs scared, then, by gosh, you are going to have heck of a scary trip.

OTOH. If you are cool, pack cool, arrive slightly mussed but still cool-ish at the sea of Saar-taxi-saar-Meydam-taxi-meydam, heaven knows they could do with all their business as usual,

then

by

golly

.
.
.

guess what kind of a trip you'll have in India



Happy Packing

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livinhimalayas

DW you forgot to mention that the leader of the ruling party is a naturalised Indian of Italian descent and was born a christian and I don't know whether she converted to Hinduism (that is if you can which I doubt )

Dilliwala

livin, 2nd sentence of that para says -

"The head of the ruling coalition is Christian."

She never converted to Hinduism.

Bonitag

Very funny Edwardseco! And thanks for the reassurance.

I have double citizenship, so just in case I will bring my Dominican passport, no one ever hears of Dominicans being kidnap or targeted!

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Bonitag

CliveG

I read that the Leopold Cafe reopened yesterday and was immediately full - great one in the eye for the terrorists. I am in Cochin and live opposite a mosque - have no plans to change my intinerary (such that it is). Have spoken to many muslims who are devastated by what has happened - no ones a winner.

machadinha

Have you read the rest of this thread? While obviously no one can give you any guarantees, it should address just about all you're asking about.

Good luck with your decision.

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Bonitag

Hi Machadinha,

That post was moved here since I -retarded as I am- stared a new thread without doing my mandatory research first

I was away all last week for the holidays (Thanksgiving celebrations here in the USA), in a cabin up in the mountains in North Carolina with my family, with no TV or radio and when I got back Monday night I found out about the whole thing in Mumbai, I was first sad, then scared, and then I was just panicking and my first thought was: Let’s talk with the Indianmiker, they will take all my fears away and make me feel better.

machadinha

Ah, I wasn't aware of that. Yes, wise thought; hope it helps, if just a tiny little bit. In the end and again, it's everyone's own decision of course, and I'd be nervous flying out there now too. Only human, and all that.

Nick-H

I'm sure we wish there was some kind of magic reassurance we could off and make all of us feel better!

My wife's first reaction to hearing that Brits and Americans were being targeted in Mumbai was that I had better not go outside my house in Chennai. The reaction is understandable, although plainly I am not going to live like that.

I don't normally anyway, but I can tell you I'd think twice just now about hanging around five-star hotels, expensive restaurants, or other places where foreigners tend to congregate. Major tourist attractions? maybe those too? Normal life about the city, especially in my suburb of it? No, it won't affect my life at all.

Bonitag

So far my husband refuses to "let terrorist decide when and where" he goes on vacation, but he grew up in Manchester, UK and saw many terrible things during the IRA era. So he is calm and confident that we will be OK in India. I, on the other hand, have never experience, directly, terrorist attacks, I wasn't even in New York for the 9/11 attacks. The last "war" in my country was in 1965 and we have no terrorism...

…either way, as of right now, we are still leaving to India this Dec. 22nd, as planned.

tstan

Heading off tomorrow with the Memsahib after both finishing work today. Haven't even packed yet! India needs her friends at a time like this.