September 11 has brought the Americans to our doorstep and changed the way the US sees the world; fortunately for India, it has put the fight against terrorism on top of the world agenda and also put our not-so-friendly neighbourhood General in a tight spot.
The targets were terrifyingly symbolic. The twin towers epitomised hateful modernity. A year later Osama bin Laden's medieval utopia has been worsted — not defeated. Kabul has been reclaimed, not Afghanistan. Seeds of a future terror sprout in Pakistan and the Arab streets, breeding a perverse cult of martyrdom. It challenges the West and threatens India.
 

The capacious science lecture hall in Kabul University has of late seen an effort to cover the scars of wars.

These days no one asks where the Al-Qaida chief is. They ask if he still is. If alive, then he is hiding in Pakistan's tribal areas.  

Specific warnings of an aerial attack on American buildings were ignored. So was The "20th hijacker".

Today, the argument in the Arab world has become so phoney that the nihilism of 9/11 is made out to be an inevitable reaction.

"Life has changed irrevocably after 9/11. The Islamophobia that has taken over the world disturbs me immensely," says Nair.

To most, September 11, 2001 was
tragedy and act of war. To others, it
was opportunity.

"The photos help us to remember. To look and cope. To understand and
possibly heal."

70 people live, pray, celebrate together,
and they're not even crabby in this capital city of Delhi.

Shankersinh Vaghela is ingeniously using the BJP's pet poll planks—and adroit scheduling—to unsettle the chief minister.

A town in Uttar Pradesh is a byword for religious conflict. A national reconciliation has to look beyond the courts.

Naipaul takes a merciless trip through a world littered with broken ideals.

An indulgent celebration of the
ordinary.

Authorspeak

Meghna Naidu, A.R.Rehman, Anusha Dandekar, Madhura Jasraj