Dilli Kareeb Ast

The collective fear psychosis is not helped by the relentless barrage of television images showing traumatised New Yorkers getting ready for the "inevitable" i.e., another attack. Will it be gas or Anthrax or a crude weapon of mass destruction? No one can be sure. TV has plagued our consciousness in many ways and one of the things it does with sinister efficiency is to heighten existing fear. On Sunday night while I was consuming my customary toast and soup the "breaking news" broke. The awesome armada, Cruise missiles, B-52 bombers, Tomahawks, seemed to be taking off from one’s bedroom. That night in Delhi, where there is always a phoney sense of participation when planet-shaking events unfold, even the dogs went silent.