27 November. 9.00AM
Mumbai from the windows of my house seems normal. But the irony is that I am afraid to get out and experience that normality. But again, it only seems normal. 9 AM is certainly different on a usual day. Hoards of people rushing to catch trains, to open their shops, to get to their schools and colleges. But today, there is hesitancy- a caution in the step of the few who have come out, wondering if they should carry on or not.
It was 10.20 last night when Amrut called from Bangalore. "There is some shooting happening in your city dude", he said. "Where is it?" I asked him as I walked leisurely on the streets of Vile Parle. When I heard 'CST', I smiled and told him that was way far off from my place and told him not to worry. A few minutes later, as we group of friends sat chatting, we heard a loud explosion. "May be it is a bomb blast. The CST terrorists have reached Vile Parle," we joked. And then laughed out when someone suggested that it must be a cracker in the marriage hall in the neighborhood. But then something caught our attention. Flats in Mumbai are so close by that you can even see the emotions of people clearly. As we saw the shocked faces of some people watching TV in a flat, something odd struck. We decided to come back home and it was shock and awe that met us as we switched on our TVs.
It was indeed a bomb blast which we had heard and it was pretty close. Sirens could be heard rushing towards the site. Slowly, all the GTalk taglines changed and the words 'Mumbai' , 'Attack', 'Terror', 'Sad' became dominant. There were phone calls and inquiries, more among the local friends, many of whom live in the area and cross the blast site quite often. The news pouring in changed from bad to worse. From firing at station to firing on the streets (shown Live on TV), hostages being taken at more than 2 places, top cops of Mumbai getting killed and finally the beautiful Taj Mahal hotel engulfed in flames of terrorism.
It is not the chaos outside, but the chaos inside the mind that is much more dangerous about this incident. Wondering why people are getting killed on streets, why we can't get out of our homes without a certain apprehension or even why we double locked our door last night. Seems preposterous right? Some flat, on the top floor, in a corner of a building at the corner of a road worrying about some terrorists entering their flat at night.
Well that is the chaos!!
3 comments:
Well what to say ?
It's shocking, horrible and insane.
It is 2:45 AM of 29th and the firing is still on in Taj hotel.
It's high time we did something about this insanity.
Well one thing the grp of 10 terrorists have successfully done is create an environment of doubt and fear.. On my way back today it was rumoured that the bus had a bomb.. was a scary 10-15 mins before it was checked well and concluded that our journey was safe
This was the by far the worst terror attack on India...This time again on Mumbai.. The sprit of mumbai will be tested again.. maybe the mumbaikars will come out of it as they always... But just imagine a person like me sitting around 900kms away in Bangalore... Will I go to Mumbai... Maybe.. It was an yes which has turned into a Maybe... Its fear and this human emotion is the hardest to overcome... It was not like a bomb blast where 300 die in an instant.. It was slow death.. Person by Person... Thinking of it still makes my Spine chill!!!
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