Tag Archives: Local Train in Mumbai

Why terror doesn’t scare anyone in India

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Israel has been bombarded with attacks on civilians for decades. Their solution is to build a wall. Maybe if they had been a little nicer to the oppressed folks in the occupied territories there would be a nicer way to solve the problem. But, what about India? India never oppressed people from Pakistan. India doesn’t oppress, they just let problems happen to you and ignore you when you complain!

I feared for my life when I boarded a local train in Mumbai. My friend’s father came within an inch of his life on the very same line a year before during a blast that killed dozens. He jumped out of the train while it was moving and suffered only a sprained ankle. The others all died. “It was surreal,” he said. It looked like flowers expanding and slowly going to all parts of the train car, killing people. He felt it was safe to jump and jumped out of the train just in time. God was watching him. It wasn’t his time to die yet.

But, if you ask the average guy on the street what they think you get these answers that indicate they are not afraid.

(1) When it is my time to go, it is my time to go. What can you do?
(2) My life is not that great anyway, so why should I be afraid of dying?
(3) If I die, then I won’t have to deal with my nagging wife anymore.
(4) India has always had blasts. It is just a part of life over here.
(5) We’ll just wait until they run out of bullets, then we’ll have ten babies per family and repopulate however many they kill. We’ll show them in the end!

My commentary for answer #3 is, “I bet you are a member of the henpecked husband association in Mumbai.” His response would be, “Are you kidding, I’m not only a member, I founded that association a few decades ago!”

The reality is that Pakistani extremists think they can scare Indians with terrorism, but Indians are simply not afraid. Their plan didn’t “work” so to speak. But, I’m afraid. So they scared someone! But, honestly, I’m much more afraid of Indian cab drivers than of Pakistani extremists. Indian cab drivers have put my life on the edge hundreds of times already — they are more likely to end my life than anyone else.