Bombings in Delhi!

No, not inside this refill-station (and yes, this IS actually how someone has set up shop).
But it could have been....on september 13, 5 bombs went off on busy marketplaces and near a cinema. Three more bombs were found that didn't go off...all planted with the intention of causing "the maximum damage". They were hidden in garbage bins and trees. The "damage" was 40 killed, 100 wounded....

Another bomb went off two days ago, killing two people and wounding 10...this time, it seems more like a personal vendetta. This bomb was thrown into a shop by two men on a motercycle...and this is just Delhi, because bombs are found on trains, on garbageheaps, in taxis...everywhere in india blasts seem to be more and more commongood.

Not surprisingly the big bombings were organised by the Indian Muhajedeen, who have close links to Indian Islamic organisations and universities. The majority of the Muslims in India condemn the bombings, as does the government, but no-one seems to be able to stop it. I heard someone say on tv last night that airline companies are now planning to install anti-terrorist measures on commercial planes because of the increasing terrorism and risk of attacks on civilian targets; as he put it: "terrorism is here to stay and without these measurements we are lost".
Who said that in 2012 the world as we know it will come to an end? Will we last that long?

Life here in India is increasingly getting restless. The papers are full of murders, rapes, bombings, attacks, robberies and protests. It seems as if there is a primitive energy released, getting the worst out of people. The masses here (and unfortunately they are the uneducated masses who never learned to judge for themselves) are easy to arouse and there are many who use that for their own gain. This is a thing one does not change easily; T and I often say that the only way to change India is to ruthlessly fire everyone who is corrupt (especially governmental figures like ministers and policemen) and send every kid to school (and fine the parents if the keep their kid at home because begging or working makes more money than school does!).
But this is a thing one cannot say openly, although more and more higher educated Indians seem to agree.

There is nothing I can change about this except notice it and stay alert. The only thing I can do is hope that I, and my beloved ones, will not be in the right place at the wrong time...and choose a different path, should the situation arise.

The rains are over and the temperature is going down; soon, it will be nice to sit outside and enjoy fall before it gets cold again. It is hard to imagine for the people who have newly arrived (to still 34 ºC) that winter really can be cold, but there you are.

I have now taken to pimping my terrace...when we moved from our house in Pushpanjali I took plants with me (mostly from the vegetable garden) but they haven't survived the summer and the heat at the terrace, so finally I went and bought palmtrees, shrubs, and my favorite, a Frangipane (guaranteed to bloom within two weeks...but this being India, I think that is a bit optimistic).
I painted my weather-beaten wooden shoes (we ARE dutch...), the stands for the sunshades and a very ugly little sidetable in Algarve blue - a sunny happy blue that goes really well with the plants and the once-white of the walls.
Everything looks crisp again (the ugly sidetable is still ugly but at least in a happy blue)...I am starting to adhere to the Indian tradition of painting everything fresh just in time for Diwali!

Inside the house also walls need to be painted; we have had serious leakages due to the heavy rains, and the whole hallway, part of the study and the guest-bathroom look rundown with big fungus patches on the wall. According to the landlady it has never happened before and she therefor blames the Noisy Neighbours who have been knocking at walls ever since we moved here (and a year before that). Personally, I am wondering, because the quality of Indian construction leaves somewhat to be desired. Still, it will need to be fixed at some point. Then, next monsoon, we will probably start all over again. But that is then...

Now, as soon as the pain in my back from trying to lift too heavy plants and pots has gone, I can enjoy our sunny Algarvian terrace with the sound of a stone quarry in the background!