The lives that have been destroyed by this attack already constitute an immeasurable loss. But terrorism is not just after lives, it is after the idea of a normal life itself. In some ways an attack like this is a classic combination of nihilism and opportunism. It is nihilism, because it serves no political end but the idea of destruction itself. We can always surmise that there are accumulated grievances, forms of alienation, the desire for revenge of some real or imagined injury, that cause such mayhem. But truth be told, such surmises are more our attempt to hold on to a sense of reality. How can we make sense of this so-called political act, where no one claims responsibility, where the cause is unclear, where there is not even the attempt to claim minimal moral legitimation for the act just perpetrated?

Particular acts of terrorism may be explained, but there is no doubt that it has also acquired a sui generis character: it does not exist for any reason outside itself. Yes, we can say that its objective is to weaken India. But though this may be the case, this raises more questions than it answers. What politics of cowardice and resentment drives that objective? What is worrying in the Jaipur blasts is the fact that it must have taken more than a couple of people to put this operation together, to engineer blasts in quick succession. The fact that such an operation can be mounted with impunity ought to be worrying for security forces.

... contd.