'Don't want to die in India'

Foreign tourists at backpackers' haven Paharganj, which faced a terror attack in 2005, are apprehensive after 13/7

Nicolas Baude wanted to go to Old Delhi and sink his teeth into some luscious mutton korma. But he is scared now.u00a0 This 31-year-old teacher from London who arrived in India yesterday and landed up in Paharganj is among the many backpacking foreign tourists who visit India.


Pic/Subhash Barolia

Paharganj, well-known for its concentration of affordable hotels and restaurants, located bang next to the New Delhi railway station is feeling the repercussions of the series of blasts in Mumbai last Wednesday. "I had decided to visit Jaipur by train in a day or two. But now I don't know how safe the trains are," said Baude.u00a0


Police presence in the area. Pics/Subhash Barolia

Anybody listening?
His concerns are echoed by many who landed recently in Paharganj. Sala is a 25-year-old medical student from France who arrived in India a day back. "The news reports are disturbing. This seems to happen again and again in this country. Doesn't the government do anything?" this one day old tourists questioned. Her friend Noonayar has some questions of her own. "Did the leaders here spend all the resources in becoming a nuclear power? What happened to internal security of its citizens?" she asked.


Nicolas

The bold ones still keep roaming around the market clicking pictures with their SLRs and chatting up the local folk. After all, be it a blast-affected Mumbaikar or a footloose tourist from Madrid, 'life has to go on'. "But many of them sit in restaurants of hotels hurdled up in small groups and ask to keep the news channels on and read newspapers," said Prabal, a restaurant help in the area, who comes from Nepal. "They keep asking a lot of questions about why we let something like this happen again and again. Then they start giving examples of America's determination and termination of Osama," he added.


Sala and Noonayar

Tricky questions
Prabal has no answers. Neither has Vijay Sikka when foreigners engage him in chitchat during their visit to his non-descript artificial jewellery and cosmetics shop. Though Sikka can tell them a thing or two about terrorist attack and bomb blast; after all, he lost his father in 2005 in the attack that rocked Paharganj, Govindpuri and Sarojini Nagar market. "Isn't their paranoia justified? I remember when the blast happened in 2005, the lone beat constable had gone to have tea.

There wasn't a vehicle to take my father to hospital. I wasted 15 crucial minutes waiting for the hospital staff to attend to his wounds," he said. "Things haven't improved after the terror attack which claimed lives in Paharganj including that of a 7-month-old infant. The blast happened a day before Dhanteras. The market was teeming with Diwali shoppers. August 15 is round the corner and the CCTV cameras which were installed are not functional today," Sikka added.u00a0 The police picket, which is right in front of the spot where the blast happened, he claims was pulled down during the Commonwealth Games. "The policemen on duty don't even have a proper shaded place to guard the area in harsh weather," he said.

Shopkeepers like Prince Gupta, who runs an electronic shop, have installed CCTV cameras of their own outside their shops which help them keep an eye on the street. 'Suspicious' looking customers and unknown vehicles parked in the street are investigated upon. "But every time something like this happens in any part of the country business suffers," said Gupta.u00a0

Holed-up on the terrace restaurant Nicolas is keenly following the media debate about resilience and desperation. A renowned psychiatrist explains about the dehumanised society we have become. Sipping his third masala chai he looked up and said, "Dude, I don't want to die in India."

Left-hand drive?
While the time of filing this story the police claimed they had had intensified their drive in checking guest house for suspicious people. On inquiring some guest houses claimed ignorance of the drive. Paramilitary presence in Paharganj was also claimed. We noticed two lone paramilitary personnel taking a walk without weapons. Policemen on beat in the middle of haggling over the price of mangoes with a fruit vendor informed us most of the CCTV cameras wires were not connected thus non-functional.