I can understand your being angry and upset (I'm utterly furious myself) - but you are directing your anger at exactly the wrong source of hurt to India: the terrorists, who then thereby succeed in what they had set out to do: elicit blind and unreasoning rage from all of us.

The terrorists who've just attacked Mumbai do indeed hate India and the potential success story that we are making here. They are not going to change by your expressions of anger and upset: that is precisely what they want - for you and all Indians to be so blinded by rage that we will force our government to strike out blindly! The more you get angry and upset the more successful they are.

Way back on Sept 25th, 2001, well before GW Bush launched his utterly foolish war on Afghanistan, Professor Bernard Haykel, an Islamic specialist of New York University, published a brilliantly-reasoned op-ed piece in the Hindu ("Avoid Osama's Trap" - check out http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/2001/09/25/stories/05252523.htm) demonstrating clearly that unilaterally attacking Afghanistan was exactly the wrong step for the US to take at that point. He suggested that the US should instead get the worldwide Islamic community of over a billion people - the great majority of whom were hugely angered, utterly horrified and disgusted by 9/11 - to participate in a real "War on Terror". Instead, in anger and upset (and no little arrogance) GW Bush and Gang did what they did (stepped right into Osama's trap), with the results that the world has seen since.

There are a whole lot of things we can do in India, that would be more effective against the terrorist tactics than blindly striking out against Palistan:

1) Ensure that we upgrade our security systems against terrorist attacks - this has to be done most urgently, with no 'political games' being played. The terrorists were highly trained (unlike India's police and the state Anti Terrorist Squad [ATS] - the first line of defence), very well-equipped (again, unlike our first line of defence) - and they were very highly motivated against the idea of India and especially against the idea of India's success. I do hope that the Indian state will do something to ensure that the police and the state ATS will be highly motivated and not subject to attack by self-seeking politicians. The National Security Guard (NSG) the elite outfit that ultimately flushed out the terrorists are indeed well- trained and equipped and better motivated, I believe - but it took nearly 24 hours before they reached Mumbai!! Such is competence in India.

2) Ensure that vicious communal and regional groups are sternly dealt with according to law - in particular, the Shiv Sena, the Maharastra Navnirman Samiti, other Hindu extremist groups, along with Muslim and Christian extremists of all kinds.

3) Ensure that we take serious steps towards becoming a truly 'civil society' (giving due respect for all groups and religions, and NOT giving undue respect to any - 60-odd years of independence from colonial rule is more than enough time for us to start on this kind of 'Mission'.

4) Educate our people at large - from politicians to the average citizen - not react in the ridiculous way that we have seen happening in this case: one the one hand senior politicians trying to make political capital out of this tragedy; on the other hand the public at large surging forward while the National Security Guard operations were on against the terrorists shouting "Bharat Mata ki jai!" and the like, thereby endangering themselves and operations against the terrorists.

5) Ensure adequate nutrition to the poorest.

6) Ensure equitable opportunity for all to rise, regardless of their caste, religion, or economic condition.

7) Ensure effective formal school and college education at all levels (which simply does not exist today, at any level - despite some of the glamor attached to the Indian Institutes of Technology; Indian Institutes of Management and the like) - for all economic strata: ensure that all children have the encouragement and wherewithal from homes and society to become educated to the best of their natural abilities.

8) Take effective steps against corruption in India.

9) Take effective steps against Pakistan sponsoring terrorism in India - maybe we should even seriously consider Kashmir as an independent state, guaranteed by both India and Pakistan. This last is a very tricky issue and will require considerable effective debate to resolve properly. (In earlier postings at Salon, I have indicated practical means to ensure effective debate on complex issues of all kinds). [Above all, we shall need to handle all such issues with true wisdom - which we have rarely [if ever] demonstrated thus far in our societal efforts].

... There are a whole lot of things that need to be done - that can and must be done! It would not be impossible to list them all - this will probably comprise a list of 100-200 things to be undertaken urgently by the government and the people of India AND to prioritise them according to the realities of our current situation, taking economic and other aspects into full consideration.

(The article by Sandip Roy is not without merit – but it scarcely explores the awful underground realities of the issues ahead for India, I’m afraid).

The suggestions above sketch the way to a strategy that could work in making a real impact against such attacks on idea of India and especially against the idea of India's success. We need to understand right now that most likely we have not seen the worst of these as yet.