In 15 minutes, things can change.

Two bombs went off in the Central railway station yesterday morning, fifteen minutes apart. I didn’t know about it until the afternoon because I hadn’t watched the news. My parents, surprisingly, made no mention of it either. They were planning to go to the mall as it was a holiday (since it was May Day). After they left, I checked the Times website and it was full coverage about the blasts (and the ongoing elections). Suddenly, I was scared that something might happen in the mall while my parents were there. I was about to call them to ask if they were okay when they returned home.

The news of the blasts is surreal. Indian cities have their problems and other cities such Bombay and Delhi have endured larger, deadlier terrorist attacks. Chennai is considered to be relatively safe. The last time we had a terrorist attack was in 1992. After these peaceful years, the fact that our city is under target just scares me. It shouldn’t because I believe that if we are meant to die at a particular time, then so be it.

I’ve been to the train station too many times to remember. I taken the 6 AM Shatabdi express, a day train, to visit my sister in Bangalore. The station is always crowded, regardless of the hour of the day. The security is pretty bad and anything can go disastrously wrong.

Everything seems scarier. To be honest, this is small. In places like Afghanistan, where deadlier explosions occur frequently, for the people to somehow carry on with their lives is nothing short of amazing.

According to the paper, the people of Chennai have responded calmly. This is true. Traffic was bad as ever and being a holiday, the malls were crowded. It’s almost as if nothing happened.

Here’s hoping nothing happens.