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Fear was the next most dominant emotion-fear for the future, which may see a series of attacks and counterattacks between the US and the perpetrators of this ghastly crime against humanity. Fear of an India somehow caught in the crossfire between the US and Afghanistan and maybe Pakistan. Fear of an uncertain economic scenario in which more difficult times could be round the corner. Fear of a third world war, with old Nostradamus hands telling you I told you so, or rather he told us so. You keep running into people during the next couple of days, whose friends or relatives were living or working dangerously close to the scene of the disaster, but no one who had lost a loved one. Through newspapers and the Net, you learn the names of Indian victims and go through these nervously, only to find out that none of the names fit your friends'. When the last attack on the World Trade Centre took place, or during the Oklahoma bombing, there was not this heightened sense of anxiety for the safety of Indian acquaintances. Even during the partition riots or in the aftermath of the Babri Masjid demolition, we in Chennai could remain relatively detached. True there were riots and bomb blasts in Mumbai and Coimbatore, but somehow, these did not affect Chennai residents with the same intensity or directness as the collapse of the twin towers of the world's tallest buildings. Not even the Gujarat Earthquake had such a telling impact. That we are living in an increasingly interconnected world has been brought home to us in no uncertain manner. We cannot remain silent spectators of international politics or terrorist attacks on different parts of the world. Living in Chennai, I-and I am sure a vast majority of us-have been the recipient of email from different parts of the world, some messages cataloguing the atrocities the US has committed in different parts of the world, including the inflicting of civilian casualties, some others asking aloud why the Arab world hates America so much, yet others calling on the whole free world to come to the aid of the US in her hour of need, just as that wonderful country had extended a helping hand to so many causes all over the world through the years. One clear thought emerged, as the friends I talked to and I tried to find answers to some of these questions. We all have strong views on international politics, but very little concrete knowledge of the complex network of relationships and acts of omission and commission behind it. Our worldview is limited by the TV programmes we watch. The sombre truth came home to us that as we can no longer hope to be cocooned from the repercussions of happenings in other parts of the world, it's time we really began to understand the realities of the interconnected world we live in and replaced our prejudices and romantic notions with hard facts. V Ramnarayan
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The initial outrage and horror gave way to anxiety about dear and near ones who might have been at the World Trade Centre at the time of the assault on it. A few phone calls revealed that everyone we knew who might have been affected was safe. The relief however could not compensate for the deep sense of grief you felt for all the innocent victims.
