But it is not hard to discern an element of opportunism in the choice of targets. Rajasthan is going to elections, places like Chittor have had a simmering communal dispute. It would be otiose to deny that the delicate social equilibrium that Jaipur had crafted over decades has been fraying at the edges for a while. The terrorists are hoping, as they were elsewhere in Hyderabad and Varanasi and Ajmer, that Rajasthan might prove combustible material. Or it may have something to do with developments in the domestic politics of Pakistan, to strengthen the hands of those that do not want to give peace a chance. Or as is so much the case with terrorism, it may all be over-determined.

Civilians are terrorised precisely so that, under the pressure of responding to their outrage, the state commits sins of commission and omission. There is a danger that this issue will get politicised in the wrong sense of the term. It is high time that we created institutions, cutting across party lines that can interface with the state and security agencies so that a proper and shared understanding can be evolved of this menace. Our ability to tackle terrorism is not enhanced by a politics of grandstanding by any party. It requires a supple intelligence and clarity of purpose. The point of terrorism is that it wants to take our politics in certain directions. It is up to our political class to resist that temptation.

But Jaipur has, for the moment at least, become a symbol of our vulnerability, rather than an emblem of a safe civic life. The gates of Tripolia don’t protect it, its famous squares, the chaupads, will not be the site of easy sociability for some time to come. It was Jaipur’s unique fate that for a long time it had not really experienced any serious stress in the old city. But for now its intimate reassurance and bustle are gone. Jaipur was famous for having an MP whose sole claim to political fame was that he attended as many funerals in the city as he could. Yesterday, funerals were the only activity allowed in large parts of the city. But if Jaipur recovers the sense that its founders had, of a city as a civilising place, it will be the source of resistance to the new barbarians that sought to replace its geometry with chaos.

... contd.