27 February 2002

A memory. Ten years ago to the day, my father was in hospital, AIIMS, one of many occasions (after a seizure I think). We came in post dinner, bringing him and my mother some supplies from home. My father had listened to the 9 o'clock news on the radio, an old habit of his. "A terrible thing has happened", he said to me as I walked into the room. "There was a fire in a railway coach full of kar sewaks. In Gujarat". His ability to decode the phrasing of the AIR news report was still impeccable. As was his reading of the political atmosphere that prevailed in Gujarat. "I only hope there aren't widespread riots". Unfortunately he was all too right in his fears.