[Assam] A Guwahati diary: Games in the shadow of terror - TOI

[Chan Mahanta]

*** And guess where they got their cues from Ram .










At 7:09 PM -0600 2/14/07, Ram Sarangapani wrote:
>Whoever wrote this piece for the TOI - seemed a bit too glib and 
>a lot patronizing.
>
>Just my take - could have misread.
>
>--Ram
>
>
>A Guwahati diary: Games in the shadow of terror
>
>
>TIMES NEWS NETWORK
>
>
>
>The moment the flight took off from Kolkata, under silvery clouds, 
>we could sense the change in the air: we knew instantly we were 
>entering a different world.
>
>In the first leg, from Mumbai, the cutlery was gleaming and the 
>smiles genuine; on this stretch, it was all plastic, including the 
>ear-to ears. As we trooped into Guwahati's smallish international 
>airport, finally, the reality here hit us.
>
>Suddenly, the passengers were incidental; armed guards were swarming 
>and one couldn't walk even from one end to the other without being 
>waylaid by a question or an instruction.
>
>Outside, the roads were narrow but the traffic was fast. Shops 
>dotted the highway and every fifth one, reassuringly, seemed to be 
>plying booze. For a second, one thought this was Goa; the folks here 
>are equally laidback, taking every day and its queer turns 'lahe, 
>lahe.'
>
>But that is where the similarities end between the west and the 
>North-east. Assam is in the grip of insurgency; the fear of the 
>hidden bomb casts a grim shadow over their daily lives. Guwahati is 
>known as the gateway into the North-east; but you don't exactly feel 
>too welcome. Until you meet the people, of course.
>
>They look diffident but you can see their sense of determination; 
>they are not loud but you know they are confident. In public, they 
>may not be too demonstrative; but in private, as one had noted the 
>other day, they laugh loudly and effusively. Maybe, it is just their 
>way of releasing their nervous energy.
>
>As one saw the roads empty out in tandem with fading sunlight, and 
>got a grasp of the meaning of terror, the mind raced to other parts 
>of the world. Fear lurked there too but in different forms and 
>shapes; one covered sporting events there too without really knowing 
>what the next day held.
>
>The worst experience was in Atlanta, during the 1996 Olympic Games. 
>Late one night, just as the world's biggest sports stars were 
>getting into the groove, a bomb exploded in the Games Park. One felt 
>the tremors inside the media centre too, which was housed on the 
>18th floor of a massive building. When we went up a few floors, we 
>could even see the site of the blast; it was almost within touching 
>distance.
>
>Until then, the evenings were resplendent with laughter, bonhomie 
>and music; now, suddenly, only a funereal silence ruled. Atlanta was 
>numb with dread and the people in a state of shock; the Games were 
>not the same after that.
>
>For those of us from India, used to communal violence, curfews and 
>bomb blasts, the overnight change in the city was difficult to 
>comprehend. We still walked around by ourselves late in the night, 
>hoping to find a decent meal, if not fun, after work. We couldn't do 
>that in Harare, Nairobi or Durban, of course.
>
>At one time, they were three of the most beautiful cities in the 
>world; now, they are nightmares. Nairobi is straight out of an old 
>Western, with old men in old hats and old clothes; one couldn't even 
>go over to the store across the street, alone. They would rip you 
>apart for a few dollars.
>
>In Harare, one only saw long queues and despondency everywhere; they 
>waited for hours for a loaf of bread, for milk, for petrol, for 
>everything. The Zimbabwean dollar was not even worth a toilet paper 
>but if you flaunted it you would immediately be surrounded by a 
>dozen thugs.
>
>Worse, in Durban you didn't even know where the mugger was hiding: 
>he attacked you from the shadows or in broad daylight; he would 
>break through your locked car at busy traffic intersections or just 
>flash a knife or gun in a packed bank and vanish with your cash.
>
>One was trailed by ISI officers in Lahore, accosted by trans-sexuals 
>in Kuala Lumpur and hoodwinked out of everything in London. But 
>there is something so intangible, something so surreal, about 
>Guwahati. In Durban, Nairobi and Harare, you knew where to go and 
>where not to; you could even sniff out potential danger.
>
>In Guwahati, there are no such warning signs; terror lies in wait at 
>every corner. It can strike at any time, in any form. So as the 
>National Games get under way, the country must spare a thought for 
>the people out here and send out a prayer for them. Some day, 
>hopefully, normalcy will return; and then, we can look back and say 
>it all began with this sporting extravaganza.
>
>
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