Wasn't it 1993 when similar attacks in India subjected their government to very harsh criticism over an almost identical lack of a coordinated plan of response? One local reporter, in a live report, said those involved in the eleven-site attacks "obviously knew the layouts of the sites better than the responding police!" It could be interpreted as stemming from the dissidents pulling "inside" jobs, but is still an indictment of the Indian government for a total lack of planning in intelligence and response on a major scale knowing their own history vis-a-vis terrorism. No lessons learned. As an American, the pot shouldn't call the kettle black on this issue, but GEEZ!

There is a lot of difference between Muslim Indians and Indian Muslims. The first has an identity of Islam before being an Indian. The latter is Indian first and Muslim later. The country needs the latter not the former.

poisonous gases from the factory engulfed the city 24 years ago and that tragedy got worldwide attention, although not so much as the killing-spree in Mumbai in this era of 24 hour news and the Internet. Mumbai is a showcase for modern India but political parties such as the BJC, with much support in rural India, are advocates for Hindutva which, quite bluntly, represents a type of nationalism which is hostile to all those who aren't Hindu. Hindutva incorporates many fascist ideas.

Nevertheless, I find Sandip Roy's article cold-hearted with its emphasis on the elite, Indian and foreign. The people who were torn to bits when grenades were lobbed at them, indiscriminately, at Mmbai's railway station did not carry banners declaring their status in society but Sandip Roy has no interest in them, nor in a l3 year old American girl who was killed. A boy of two has been orphaned because his father was a Brooklyn-born rabbi but, in general, the killers mowed down Muslim, Hindu, Christian, Jew, agnostic, atheist because all that inspired them was destruction and hate.

People living in western democracies find the complexities of Indian and Pakistani society almost incomprehensible. Both countries have been independent since 1947 and, although a bit of Brit-bashing is always fun, I'd remind Mr. Roy that the Brits did some good in India, such as banning the hideous practice of "suttee" which required a wife to throw herself on the funeral pyre of her dead husband. Yes, India has had a female Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi, who was assassinated and Pakistan has had a leading female politician, Benazir Bhutto, also assassinated almost a year ago. Sonya Gandhi is Italian by birth but had to abandon her European identity to succeed in politics when her husband, Rajif Gandhi, was assassinated. Although she wears a sari and seems to have been completely assimilated into Indian life for thirty years or so, there are elements in India which still despise her as a foreigner.

Sandip Roy seems to have written from an ideological point of view and has shown no compassion for those killed and mutilated in a murderous rampage.

This has to be the stupidest article I have read on the Mumbai terror attack. The reason the English news media has reacted (and this is traditionally derided as effete and liberal btw) is not a knee jerk elite/non-elite reaction or because the city was attacked. It has much to do with the recent history of terror in India - I would like to see what American reactions would be for e.g. were there a sustained series of attacks on its soil. Further, at least Mr. Roy should make his readers aware that recent terror attacks have been by educated Muslims who had jobs and have very much benefited from the recent economic boom. That they choose to turn their back on this is no brownie points to them, neither does it make them anything close to disaffected heroes. And the text is peppered with so much musty academic theory (other, elite etc) that it bears no relation to real life. And most Indians do recognise that a majority of Indian Muslims are "people like us" and not the other. Neither is every Muslim in India disaffected - the security force out in Mumbai had Muslims, so did the Taj staff etc.

As for chauffeurs, Mr. Adiga's novel may well be a fine reflection of his own sensitivities to class in India. The gap between rich and poor is huge in India, this I do not dispute neither do I think its right. But I doubt very much that the poor attempt to deal with this in the manner cosy middle class types like Adiga and Roy would have us imagine-Adiga's novel after all is little else than a sensitive middle class person's revenge fantasy. In fact, the poor in India often deal with the divide with grace and dignity, with strong family links and feeling, maintain their good humour in the most trying circumstances and a simple striving for a better world for their children rather than by alienation. But these are not interesting for a book. And with the economic boom, the old feudality and display of servility is also disappearing. The last chauffeur I met was so sure of his skill set he only interviewed if the car on offer was a Rolls Royce.

As a clarification, I don't own a Rolls. In fact I don't own a car and ergo don't interview chauffeurs.

attempting to propagate your misinformed and hateful ideas. It's now past mid-day in western Europe (4-5 hours later in India) and the death-toll in Mmbai has now been given as 195 but that will probably rise. Of the dead, 22 are foreigners, a figure which might disabuse you of your eccentric theories. Indian journalists, taxi-drivers, hotel staff and police are among the dead.

As for the British Raj, India has been independent for 60+ years and has its own identity. There are friendly relationships between the country and its former colonial masters, a relationship that has been strengthened by their mutual love of cricket. Not all countries in the world, once lorded over by the British, the French and others, retain grudges into "kingdom come", a fact that seems to escape your tunnel-vision. Home-grown dictators can be a lot worse - or perhaps you hadn't noticed. The poor people of Zimbabwe are now suffering yet another affliction after decades of Mugabe's rule as a cholera epidemic sweeps the country.