I don’t think I can post anything else until I take a bit of a detour from Mexico and write something about how sickened and sad I feel to learn about what has just happened in Mumbai. Back from the beach at my hostel this afternoon here in La Paz, I was ready to start writing the story so far of my road-trip (which of course I still will). However, I checked my e-mail first and was tipped off by my parents about the extent of the atrocities in a city that really holds a significant space in my heart. This is given the wonderful trip I took visiting my Dad when his ship was posted there two years ago.
Although I glanced something about a terrorist attack in India in the paper the other day in Mexico City, I didn’t realise how shocking and extensive the loss of life and damage was – nor that it had unfolded in the very places I had visited and stayed with my family (the beautiful Taj, bustling and convivial Leopald’s Café…). I could hardly bear to read the news properly on the Guardian’s website, but really felt I had to. I guess I can’t shield myself completely from what’s happening in the rest of the world here – easy as that could be... As a consequence, I am now feeling pretty sober - a hollow and rapidly spreading feeling of revulsion and sadness having coursed through me and still sitting heavy on my spirits.
I really don’t know what else to write except for how very sorry I am, and how much I am thinking right now of the people of India in general, the fates of the individuals I met there (the limitlessly charming and kind staff at our hotel, the chatty taxi drivers, even the infuriating but equally engaging street-vendors), and everyone who gets affected by the appalling events that a very small and selfish minority unleash on the world with such depressing frequency now.
It’ll be back to business as normal shortly as I’ve been having a proper adventure and many laughs on my way here to Baja California - and I certainly want to document that. However, I just couldn’t let this pass without comment. It’s really made me realise how attached to and protective you can become of places and their people when you travel (right now I’m feeling rather like I did after 9/11 following the fantastic summer I spent in New York in 1999). Now I’m away from the UK again I realise I’m attaching fond memories to a whole host of new locations, letting them make their mark on me as a person, and allowing them to occupy a very precious place inside me. I hope I won’t feel like this again about an offence against a place I love. I know it’s naïve to imagine I won’t, but it hurts so much when it happens.
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