COMMUNITY
Proud to be Sikh, Proud to be American

When Gerry Albarelli went to the Richmond Hill gurdwara for the first time, his taxidriver said, "Oh, oh be careful. Osama bin Laden is there." Richmond Hill, Flushing, has the single largest concentration of Sikhs in New York. It was in a "state of siege" after 9/11 with Sikhs, even children, being targeted by racial prejudice. The instances were grossly under-reported and this unfairness is now being redressed.

Albarelli is assigned to interview members of the Sikh faith as part of Columbia University's 9/11 oral history project. What started off as a series of interviews to record the memories of people touched, directly or indirectly, by the WTC tragedy has now expanded to include a "Telling Lives" element. This is where Richmond Hill's Sikhs, along with other communities that form New York's cultural fabric, come in.

Weaves of Woe A carpet, made by an artisan who visited New York after 9/11, in a Kandahar shop.

"I didn't think it possible that Osama could do it ... I don't think he has the intelligence." Pervez Musharraf on the WTC attacks

The imperatives of the project go back to the immediate aftermath of the Twin Towers' destruction. It was then realised that the collective rhetoric of an angry nation inevitably drowned out individual voices. Says Mary Marshall Clark, director of Columbia's Oral History Research Office: "We are aware the government and press shape history. Hence we wanted to record thoughts before people contextualise this understanding by what they are exposed to." The project is designed to come back to the same individuals at least twice over a period of two years.

BOOKS
9/11 and the Word Processor

Some 200 books related to the 9/11 theme are estimated to have been written. The Al-Qaida/Taliban/jehad publishing industry covers everybody from Tariq Ali (The Clash of Fundamentalisms) to Peter Bergen (Holy War Inc) to apro M.J. Akbar (The Shade of Swords). V.S. Naipaul's trenchant criticism of Islamism was said to have "influenced" the decision to award him the literature Nobel. In the year of 9/11, symbolism was oh so important.

It Hurts New York hotel rooms like the one above, overlooking Ground Zero, used to be checked in to almost before they were checked out of. The aftermath of 9/11 was different for the world's business capital. It is estimated that nearly 3,000-half the number originally thought-died in the twin towers. Over the past year, economists calculate the city lost $80 billion (Rs 3,70,000 crore) and an astounding 97,500 jobs.

MEDIA
ONN: Osama News Network

During the Cold War, the enemy read Pravda. Now it watches Al-Jazeera (logo above). The Arabic TV channel's name means "The Peninsula" but its bin Laden scoops had global impact. Uncle Sam griped about Al-Qaida using its newscasts to send coded messages to agents. Founded in 1995 and subsidised to the tune of $100 million a year by the Emir of Qatar, "the Gulf's CNN" has a deal with Sky in Europe; and is a must-see for the jehadi couch potato.

DID YOU KNOW?
September 11 is also the anniversary of M.A. Jinnah's death. And it marks the day on which the Pentagon's founding stone was laid.

CREATIVITY
In Memoriam

When Jupiter Yambem of Manipur and India died at the WTC, Pete Seeger sang at his memorial service. Now Bruce Springsteen (right) has dedicated an album, The Rising, to victims. Films on the heroic passengers of the "fourth plane", those who attacked the hijackers and probably saved the Capitol, are planned.

WEAPON
Cutting Both Ways

Box cutters (left) are made by only 12 companies. They became unlikely weapons for the hijackers. If the box cutter wounded America, the lethal Daisy Cutter bomb avenged it.