Solidarity

... took on a new meaning for me today.

The attacks in Mumbai, India were a shock, certainly. Tragic. "India's 9-11", it was called in the press (patronizingly, I think - as if India hasn't had terror attacks and bombings before 2001. They have.)

But it suddenly occurred to me Monday that - hey! We have people there! Yikes!

My company's intranet the last few days has had a terse message scrolling across the top of the home page: "Travel ban to India in effect!" Okay, yeah, but... what about the locals?

We outsource some actuarial support work to a fairly large firm there, and I'm on the phone with these people every week, I give them direction on projects. There's Jitendra (we call him Jeetu), and Mitasha, and Bani, and Nishant, and Vish(wanath), and... gosh, I KNOW these people, you know? I don't know what they look like, but I do know their voices.

Now like most Americans, I don't know Delhi from Mumbai from Bangalore from my left cheek (yes, that one.) The geography there eludes me. So I worried about them all since I heard the news. Even more since they were not on line yesterday. Why??? What's wrong???

I remember when the 35W bridge collapsed here and people I know got hold of me urgently wondering if I was okay, even though I never drove that way. But they didn't know that - they just worried, you know? Wanted to know I was all right. It was sweet, really... :)

Me too - worried about all my peeps in India (who make me get up early once a week to talk to them while in my pajamas, right before they go catch the last cab home for the night! Crazy time zones.)

Turns out that Delhi (where they are) is about 2 hours from Mumbai, and they're all fine. Good, good.

I caught Jeetu on line this morning (we have an in-house Instant Message application) and expressed my relief that he's still around! Then I asked how things were. He said people are shocked and scared, wondering if their town would be next. :(

I told him that it was just like that here after 9-11. No matter where you lived, you were scared. But their country is a big place, I said, with lots of people so probably not a lot of reason for any one person to worry, right? He agreed, and hoped their government would invest more in intelligence gathering to beef up domestic security.

Hm. Sounds familiar. Didn't seem like the right time to ask about the potential loss of civil liberties. :( That'll come soon enough.

He seemed really touched that I even cared, and even more that I could relate to his shock, anger and fear. So I wished him well, and said I hoped he could sleep okay tonight. Tomorrow AM (waaaaay too early for me) I'll talk to him in person.

Amazing how a small contact like that can bridge the gap between people, cultures and countries. Literally halfway around the world,

I have a friend - whom I've never seen.
I have a friend - who knows I care about him.
I have a friend - whom I can encourage during a crisis.

All because of technology.

Pretty amazing.

And pretty darned cool.

Wonder if he's on Facebook? ;)