Everybody loves a good bomb blast

Did I say this before? Maybe I did. But everytime there is something like this - the media probably pops opens a champagne bottle or two. Who will win the goriest picture award, who will have the most number of dead in its headlines, who will manage the most heart-rending mourning family stories and the bravest survivor tales and ofcourse who will be the first to get a "letter" from a Paki terrorist (always Lashkar-e-something or the other) outfit claiming responsibility. I can never figure out why these terrorists remain quiet for a while and suddenly own up. They suddenly wake up one morning and say "Woh, let's claim it before somebody else does."? It just sounds so ridiculous to me.

I guess the era of "responsible journalism" that Baba talks about has gone with these 24 hour news channels trying to manufacture news at any cost. A bomb blasts away a few bogeys, an air plane crashes or a riot kills hundreds and the newspaper business skyrockets. So why worry about silly things like "respect for privacy of people" or giving them some mourning time. Just jump right in and probe and probe. And fill in your newspaper pages with the juiciest goriest details.

And now I feel like a heartless cheat, sitting billions of miles away, in a safe little all-white New England village, being intellectual over something that has probably paralysed lives of thousands of peopl, traumatised millions and injured hundreds. What else can I do?

PS: This one was for you Anne