jaipur..... a journey through the city a week after the blast

The possibility of a social crisis
after an attack is a more serious problem than the actual attack itself
and triggering such a crisis would be the motive of an attack. Fortunately outcome doesn’t happen in India often. Unfortunately the cause is fast becoming more of a regular phenomenon.
One point, which did not get much of a highlight in the media is, why Jaipur was the chosen city to stage the attack. I was neither concerned of this fact but the moment one steps into the
city, it is impossible to ignore the uniqueness of the
city, the very fact for the city being the chosen target. “Pink city”, as it is referred appears true to its name. Every
building within the city carries on the  unique tradition of the pink city and
painting the exteriors pink. Even the mosque, which is generally
painted white and green,  follows the tradition and is painted pink
inside the ‘pink city’.

If one takes a closer look at the settlement
pattern in Jaipur, it offers a whole new perspective of the city and
the entire pictures falls into place automatically. The roads cut at right angles and on one road is the ‘Hindu’ settlement and on the other side is the ‘Muslim’ settlement. It becomes more interesting when one finds that the mosque is located inside the hindu settlement and the temple is in the other. Such is the plan of the city that each other respect the others’ practices and approve of it. On the outlook, this must have appeared to be the vulnerability that might be exploited to trigger a crisis. Fortunately it dint happen
The
entire attack took place in a stretch of this road at intervals and to
inflict maximum damage, the bombs had been planted on alternate sides
so that when people take refuge on the other side, they are vulnerable
again.

One of the explosions was at this very site, the gate of a hanuman temple.
In spite of everything the city showed remarkable resilience, which, I think, is owing to the unique social structure it has. I managed to get a shot of this person sitting inside the bus. I am not sure what prompted me to click this local teenager (I suppose) but to me his looks seemed to convey a message. Does it to you? Please leave it in the comment