Elegant apartment blocks stand tall above the gardens of Malabar Hill, the most exclusive district in south Mumbai. The area juts out on the far side of a bay, like the thumb of a hand stretching for the sea, as if trying to keep at arm’s length from the body behind. Property prices here rival downtown Manhattan. When the smog isn’t too thick, residents can gaze east across Back Bay, to see the city’s seething downtown fingertip. Few places would have given a better view of the smoke rising from the Trident Oberoi and the Taj hotels.
The attacks that began on 26th November, in which 188 died, shocked India. But unlike the events of 11th September 2001—to which they have been too readily compared—this was not shock springing from the unexpected. India is used to violence. The same group behind this devastation, Lashkar-e-Toiba, bombed Delhi in 2005. The next year, 209 Mumbaikers died when seven explosions ripped through their commuter rail system.
True, the latest attacks were more public and prolonged. The sieges, shoot-outs and hostages shinning down drainpipes had a cinematic quality suited to the home of Bollywood. But the novelty came in the choice of victims. Tragedy in India usually hits the poor, whether bombings, riots or the simple brutality of everyday life. This time, the gunmen attacked India’s prosperous new elite, many of whom died on the floors of the Taj hotel.
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