I was going to blog about how wonderful it is to be home again after almost a month away. I was going to blog about the highlights of the last week of my trip - finally meeting the wonderful Sue Guiney, going to the Momaya Press awards ceremony, seeing a great French film with my mother that reminded me of a perfectly-crafted short story (Let's Talk About the Rain). I was going to write a few words of cautionary advice for anyone planning on going to a writing retreat. I was going to blog about what I might be up to this week.
But I can't. I am so distressed by what happened in Mumbai - and what is still happening, because we here know from bitter experience that just because the bombs have stopped exploded, the guns have stopped firing, the terrorists have been killed or detained, this isn't the end of anything. Hundreds of families and friends of the killed and wounded will never be the same, the city will never recover, nor will the country. I know that appalling atrocities are happening everywhere, all the time. Why has this one affected me so much? I don't know.
So, I can't. I can't find a reason to talk about myself, can't find a reason to cheerfully waffle on about short stories, can't find any answer to the question of why, can't see this answer in fiction, in writing fiction, in talking about fiction.
So I will be quiet for a while. I don't want to talk about myself here right now. My virtual book tour continues, and that is making me contemplate and dig deep for the answers to the questions. That will be it for the moment. A moment of silence.
5 comments:
beautifully said, Tania. I'm glad you're home safely.
My mother was born in Bombay (obviously now Mumbai)and so she feels a special bond with the place. My mother-in-law was also staying at the Taj Palace hotel last year; we even have a souvenir 'Do not disturb' sign from the place. India so badly needs people to visit and now, there will be so many that stay away.
Yes, it made me cry...I have wanted to plan a trip for my mother to go back for quite a while. Now she will not even consider it; so her roots may be lost forever.
Sue, thank you!
Julia, this makes me so sad. I am not surprised you cried, maybe your mother will reconsider, given some time. Unfortunately, no one place is safer or more dangerous than another these days.
Thank you for this lovely post, Tania. Julia, my thoughts are with you and your mother.
I am so upset about Mumbai too. I think I will be haunted forever by the cries of that Israeli child for his Mom and Dad. Terrible, terrible, terrible.
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