River of Tears
It's easy to forget, sometimes, how we are all interconnected, and how the world around us affects us all. The War on Terror and Islamic extremism all too often appear as disposable images on TV screens, casually consumed over our TV dinners with no relevance to us here and now.
But today, just like on 7 July 2005, a place that I know was attacked. Varanasi, the holy city on the banks of the Ganges, suffered three explosions. At the time of writing the death toll is 15, but except this to rise as morning comes.
It's hard to describe your feelings when something like this happens. No, I am not directly affected, nor those close to me. Yet in Varanasi I spent two of the most illuminating days of my trip to India, and we met a gamut of local characters from street-boys to sweet-vendors to silk-traders any one of whom might just have been caught up in events. The bombed Sankat Mochan temple, for example, was not far from the hotel where we stayed.
Is this Islamic terrorism? It could be Maoists, but for now let's assume the former. Why? It is clearly a brazen attempt to stir up tensions between Hindu and Moslem, just as the attack on the al-Askari shrine in Samarra was aimed at sparking tensions between Shia and Sunni in Iraq.
At times like this you wonder whether Bush was right all along, that terrorism is one of the biggest threats that we face - or whether his policies are actually the inspiration for the carnage and the sorrow and the anger that will ensue.
If India were to descend into violence, as happened in Gujarat in 2002, it would be deeply sad, not only for India but for us all. India has just been welcomed into the nuclear club: for all its faults, and there are many, it has been recognised as a stable and responsible democracy with a key role in the future of the planet. It is a paradigm for the rest of the region it sits within.
A few explosions must not destroy that.
BBC coverage below.
Indian temple city hit by blasts
At least 15 people have been killed in three bomb explosions in the northern Indian pilgrimage city of Varanasi.
At least 60 others were injured, police said. The first blast occurred at a Hindu temple and was followed by two more at the main railway station.
Police also said they defused two more bombs in the city. No-one has so far said they were behind the attacks.
Varanasi is the religious capital of Hinduism and is usually packed with Indian pilgrims and foreign tourists.
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh condemned the blasts and appealed for calm.
The city in the state of Uttar Pradesh, about 670km (415 miles) south-east of the capital Delhi, has a history of religious violence.
The first explosion took place in the major Sankot Mochan temple dedicated to the Hindu God Hanuman at about 1815 local time (1245 GMT).
At least 10 people were killed and a number of others injured in the blast, Uttar Pradesh officials said.
An eyewitness, Siddharth Suri, told the BBC that thousands of people were at the temple at the time of the blast.
Tuesday is a special day at the Sankat Mochan temple and the explosion took place just minutes before the main worship.
"There was a loud explosion followed by dust. There was pandemonium in the front of the temple," Mr Suri said.
"The explosion at the temple is horrific and shocking to me," high priest of the temple Veer Bhadra Mishra told the BBC News website.
"The Sankat Mochan temple is loved, respected and revered by so many people as a place of religious worship and ritual. I am so pained," the priest said.
The complex would have been packed with worshippers and the fear is the explosion was timed to have maximum impact, the BBC's Nadvip Dhariwal in Delhi reports.
Minutes later, the city's main railway station was rocked by two blasts, with eyewitnesses saying they saw a number of casualties.
One of the blasts occurred in a train carriage reportedly packed with passengers, and the other near the station's ticket counter.
"The blasts were pretty big and I do not rule out a terrorist hand behind it," Varanasi's police chief Navneet Sikera was quoted as saying by Reuters news agency.
Officials said experts also defused two bombs - on the bank of the River Ganges and at a city market. One of the bombs had a timing device.
Police secured the sites of the blasts, and security was stepped up throughout the city.
Major cities across India, including the capital Delhi, were put on high alert, following the explosions.
India's cabinet committee on security, meanwhile, is holding an emergency meeting.
