How safe are we in Pune?
Following the horrific attacks in Mumbai last week, the unspoken question that is on everyone’s lips is “how safe are we in Pune?”
I have had varying responses to this question, ranging from the confident, “Pune isn’t important enough to be a target”, to the sceptical, “if they can’t control the traffic, how will they manage to control terrorists?” and “Pune is only three hours from Mumbai and if they could carry out such attacks there…” Some MNCs obviously agree since many foreigners, including some of my friends, have already been sent home from Pune.
I first came to know of the terrorists attacks early on Friday morning when my father-in-law alerted me to the situation. I spent the next hour and, like most Indians, every spare minute of the next few days, glued to the television screen.
As a British citizen, the fact that the sites of the terrorist attacks were places frequented by foreigners and the revelation that the terrorists at the Taj were specifically looking for people with American and British passports sent a chill down my spine. This is the first time, in my knowledge, that in a terrorist attack of this scale, terrorists have selected victims on the basis of nationality. However, for some reason, although I was upset by the news, I didn’t feel afraid. In fact, the whole episode felt almost surreal, like something out of a movie, and I found it hard to believe that it was all taking place in real life and not far away from where I was sitting.
For the next few days I went about my life as normal, despite frequent calls from relatives to check that I was alright. In fact, since arriving in Pune eighteen months ago, I have never really felt unsafe, or no more so than I have done in other cities like Paris and London. Perhaps the most frightening incident of my life to date was when I, alongside hundreds of other people, was evacuated from the Science Museum in London. This was not long after the 7/6 bomb blasts in London and so automatically I assumed that there must be a bomb threat. The incident turned out to be nothing (or at least I heard no more about it) but I didn’t stop trembling until I was far, far away from the building. In Pune, on the other hand, the biggest threat to my safety has been the beggars for whom I am a magnet. On one occasion I found myself trapped inside a bank (I was using the ATM) with a gang of beggars waiting for me outside. But terrorists are another story altogether.
Having said that, on Sunday morning I found myself alone in the house (my relatives had gone to a function and I was to join them later). Taking a shower, I suddenly heard some strange noises and found myself thinking, “Did I lock the outside door?” Perhaps my sensitivity was due to the fact that, living in a joint family, I am no longer used to being alone in the house, or perhaps some fear was beginning to creep into me due to the frequent phone calls. Either way, I have never felt like this before in Pune.
And it seems that I am not the only Punekar who is feeling edgy. Remember the infamous incident outside Vaishali on FC road, back in October, in which a bag containing sambhar and cooked potatoes was mistaken for a bomb? I’m sure that such incidents will be on the rise, following last week’s attacks.
Unfortunately, some unscrupulous people will no doubt try to manipulate the situation, for their own amusement or gain. This happened on Monday when the police control room in Pune received a fax warning them that there would be forty blasts throughout the city at 2.30 p.m. The warning, of course, later turned out to be a hoax, but not before it had caused panic in several parts of the city.
The sad fact is that terrorism, from being a distant threat, has become a part of our everyday lives. From my own experience, having grown up in the scarcely populated Scottish countryside, the threat of terrorism never occurred to me. It was something that happened to ‘other people’ but not anyone I knew and not anywhere near me. The naivety of my beliefs was brought home to me when, on the 30th of June 2007, two men tried to drive a Jeep Cherokee loaded with propane canisters into Glasgow International Airport (which I have passed through several times as it is the closest airport to my home in Scotland). Thankfully, nobody was killed (except one of the terrorists who later died from burns). This was the first terrorist attack ever to target my native country, Scotland, and on that day I realised that nowhere can say it is safe from terrorism. Not Glasgow, not Mumbai and not Pune.
We Punekars have a reputation for being laid-back, for not taking life too seriously. I hope we all realise that terrorism is something we must take very seriously and, in doing so, we must give our utmost support to our police and security services.
The Pune police has issued two numbers for reporting any suspicious/unclaimed objects in public places: 100-26122880/26208250.Let’s use them wisely.
Photo: AP
More articles by Anna Pande
- From Anna Banana to Andy Pand(e)y! - April 8th, 2009
- A day for pandemonium - April 1st, 2009
- Restaurant review: Prems - March 27th, 2009
- Don’t kiss kisses goodbye - March 25th, 2009
- Restaurant review: Malaka Spice - March 20th, 2009
