Mary Wells | 11/29/2008 6:33 am

The Gypsy Dispatches: First Person Accounts From Mumbai and Mexico

From Mumbai: I just had a call from my Swiss friend who just arrived in Geneva from Mumbai and when he was leaving his hotel in Mumbai to go to the airport and his elevator arrived in the lobby there was no one alive there, just a horrific group of dead people and blood everywhere and he saw a man with a gun but was hustled out onto the street by someone and into the restaurant next door where he and others hid in the dark all night in the confusion. He said the terrorists were shooting anybody and anywhere, it was total chaos.

From Mexico: Yesterday I just had another call from a friend in Baja who has a home near the lovely and luxurious resorts there who packed up and left and doubts she will return as the two drug factions are having a war there and up and down the south coast of Mexico and in Mexico City and they are cutting off heads and rolling them down the beaches and it is total Hell.

It is a good time to stay home and bless America for being as safe as it is.

Gypsy

Read more about: India, Mary Wells, Mexico, Mumbai, News

102 Reader Comments (so far…) Sign In or Register to comment

DeBurca, your statistics are somewhat enlightening, but motives should be considered. How many of the homicides in Chicago are the result of suicide bombers or killing almost two hundred people over a period of 3 days, all of them visitors. Now, I would board a plane to anywhere someone offered a ticket, but ignoring violence by just moving along in ignorance is foolhardy. IMO I know what you mean about Chicago, great city, know the terrain. Same with Dallas, which for several years even surpassed Chicago in homicides, but again not the same as the terrorist attacks, a fact which should not be overlooked. Peace and grace

By beth willis on 12/01/2008 12:12 pm

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If I get killed I don’t care if it’s a suicide bomber or a bullet from a drive by shooting. The point is, we shouldn’t ignore violence, but we must put it into perspective. The odds of an American being killed in a terrorist attack abroad are much lower than an American getting killed in their own city.

By DeBúrca obj on 12/01/2008 12:43 pm

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I think we agree, DeBurca. I still hold on to the idea that there is a factor we’re not considering………obviously, if we knew what it was we would be considering it. If I were a terrorist being trained in Pakistan to destroy Western culsture, I would act on America’s dedication to carryinging on in the face of fear. Knowing that security systems are weak, I would hit the high scale hotels as was done and send another brigade of terrorists to the airport to attack. That’s just my attempt at stream of consciousness thinking like a terrorist. Now I’ll probably be picked up by Homeland Security. Peace and grace

By beth willis on 12/01/2008 4:23 pm

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so your taking shots from telling the truth? far as i’m concerned, people move to Baja as they can’t afford Maui, Tahiti, etc.

By gulliver fourmyle on 11/30/2008 9:03 pm

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gulliver, it’s hard to imagine such narrow mindedness. Have you ever been to Puerta Vallarta, or Cabo San Lucas? Don’t you understand that people choose to live in Baja because they truly love it there?

By Maurine H on 12/01/2008 1:54 am

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Maureen and Gulliver, I’m not entering the exchange, just sharing a bit of levity. Yesterday I saw a cartoon with one horse talking to another, saying, ‘No thanks, I don’t need any blinders. I’m narrow-minded enough’. Not meaning any offense. Peace and grace

By beth willis on 12/01/2008 11:59 am

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‘it goes with the place’—-thanks for the humor—-not enough around these days—-

By gulliver fourmyle on 12/01/2008 6:30 pm

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My husband & I have a home in Pune, 80 miles from Mumbai. We usually fly in & out of Mumbai where traffic is impossible and corruption is rampant. If this dreadful event awakens the need to clean up officialdom and establish systems that work, something will have been learned. Registered homeownership documents are wrapped in cloth and stacked! When we went to our bank this week, made a deposit and walked out in 5 minutes, my husband commented “this same process takes a half hour in Pune”. Is it any surprise that a bunch of well trained terrorists can operate as they did? India is a wonderful place, and frustrating as hell to live in. Whenever we had workmen doing plumbing, painting etc., they would always have some excuse to leave “for a few minutes”. Knowing a few minutes wasn’t literal, I would bribe them with chocolates to return promptly. Everything takes ten times as long to accomplish there.

By margameri margameri on 11/30/2008 9:27 pm

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Marjorie, Elaine, my other friends too numerous to mention, I must say my goodbyes. I am now banished from WoW for whatever reason. My presumption is the women who created this website are intolerant of American Indians. I really enjoyed the company of all, had lots of fun and have learned WoW is quite intolerant and does not welcome diverse opinions. achukma hoke, yakoke! It is good, thank you! Okpulot Taha Choctaw Nation

By Okpulot Taha on 12/01/2008 1:46 am

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Do not stand at my grave and weep, I am not there, i do not sleep. I am a thousand winds that blow, i am the diamond glints on snow, i am the sunlight on ripened grain, i am the gentle autumn rain, When you waken in the mornings, hush. i am the swift uplifting rush of quiet birds in circled flight. i am the soft stars that shine at night. Do not stand at my grave and cry. i am not there, i did not die.

By sibelle daubigne on 12/01/2008 6:29 pm