November 26th(11/26) will be a day which will be marked in Mumbai's history as a black day.Not that there weren't other black days for Mumbai,and i fear there will be other black days to come too,this was a day which saw the worst terrorist attack in recent times.
I had just returned from my office on the night of 11/26 at 10:30 PM when i happened to browse through one of the news channels.Little did i know that i would be glaring at those channels late at night upto 3 AM that day!Initially news channels were reporting about a gunfight between two groups,supposedly the underworld(?),but as the events began to unwind,it became clear those were terrorist attacks,well orchestrated terrorist attacks.Shocking as they were,they were audacious too.It was mumbai's 9/11.
Not only were these maniacs armed with sophisticated weapons and grenades,they had come to mumbai with a purpose,a suicidal purpose.These guys then reached an appropriate target and started firing indiscriminately with their AK-47s and rifles.Scores of people were caught unaware.Their targets included popular places like gateway of India,Leopold cafe,taj mahal hotel,oberoi-trident hotel,metro cinema hall and a couple of hospitals amongst others.Needless to say,the police and authorities were caught napping.By now,most of these terrorist have been killed or arrested but the damage has already been done.
I had decided to take a leave on Thursday(11/27),to relax and have a day off from my taxing work schedule.But it turned out to be exactly the opposite.Most of the day i was left sulking,irritated,angered and frustrated with what was happening to my city,Mumbai,my beloved mumbai.The city of dreams was left bending on its knees for almost 24 hours by this mindless senseless violence.Imagine being shot in a gunfire of two mercenaries while waiting for a train back home at CST station.Imagine slumping to the ground hit by bullets after watching an enjoyable movie in Metro theater.Imagine being held at gunpoint while dining with your family or friends in a restaurant.Imagine just having started a journey in an exotic country,which turned into tragedy at the 5 star hotel itself!Thats what my mumbai went through in the past 24 hours.
And watching the idiot box,sitting at home doing nothing only increased the frustration.I watched the beautifully majestic Taj Mahal hotel crumbling down,when blaze after blaze continued to beat it down.Both the 5 star hotels,Taj and Oberoi-Trident are symbols of the rise of the city we love.To see scores of foreigners,tourist and staff held hostage to terrorist was a wrenching sight.Now its time to ask the tough questions.
For the last 3-4 years terror strikes have achieved such frequency that i fear we as a nation would become numb to those BREAKING NEWS reports soon.I fear soon we would become adaptable to the situation,so much that terror strikes will be perceived as a common occurrence. If there is a time to change ,then the time is now.
First thing,there should be a provision in the law to prevent important politicians or minsters visiting the terror site every time theres some incident.It not only hampers investigation,these politicians(or should i call power hungry monsters!) also hamper medical services by visiting the affected in hospitals.Already the resources are strained due to terror strikes,they are stretched to the limit when the PM or leader of opposition comes calling.If these politicians had some common sense,they would have not entered mumbai until investigations into the blast are complete.What a waste!
Now is the time for the leaders of the nation to forget their differences and selfish motives,to come together for the sake of the country in its security.If not now,then the enemies of our great country will take it for granted that India doesn't mind being hurt by these terror strikes and continue them at will.It is time for some concrete action,some stricter laws,using the firm hand against entities aren't in national interest.And of course we have to do something against the country,which is the root cause of all our terror pains in some way or the other.God knows when we will have Pakistan off our backs,but if we cant make them agree to our cause,then its time to bully them!!
This last attack was a strike right into the core of Indian financial power.It was different from the rest of terror strikes India faced in the sense that the targets were the lower class or urban middle class Indian.But this time the targets were high flying millionaires,tourist,foreigners and the upper level la de cream in general.It also got a lot of coverage from the international media because of the foreign hostage situation.This attack will have hard ramification on the country.I can just hope that it will help the giant called INDIA to finally rise up to its true status in the world.
5 comments:
Thanks Divyesh for that summary after reading ur post i got a better picture of what exactly happened on 26/27 Nov. Till then it was a bit confusing. You have also raised a few valid points hope its heard ASAP.
You have done a good analysis.Keep it up and do keep writing.
I have so much to say, but I dont know where to begin or where to end. Words have started to fail me.
This is not India's 9/11. This is even worse than that. For 3 days (and even more) I've been glued to the television till now, wondering what has happened, when it will get over, and what next. For 60 hours Entire Mumbai was terrorised, and the trauma we had to endure is much worse, and very much terrible.
Everytime a surivor story is aired, or the stories of the ones who lost their lives, and their loved ones is aired, I've burst out crying. Every morning when I wake up since all that happened, I think of li'l Moshe, who lost his family, on the eve of his 2nd bday, and wonder what life has in store for him. I admire the GM of the Taj Hotel, who lost his family too, and yet his priority was the safety of the others. Imagine what he must have felt, when he had to face the reality after all this got over. Hundreds others died. I pray for their souls to attain salvation, and my heart reaches out to those who lost their near and dear ones. Especially the great men who sacrificed their lives serving their nation. May all their soulds rest in peace.
This brings me back to the ruthlessness of the terrorists. Those sickos were trained, maybe even better trained than our army men. It was a well co-ordinated, well executed plan. Our Indian govt should learn from them.
I ddint want to politicize this issue, but I have to say, the politicians in India are useless. and if they continue to be so, we're going to be facing such attacks quite frequently. As Divyesh said, those politicians shold be banned from reaching the sight of the attacks, cause they only hamper all the procedures, and their 'security' is of a greater importance (Pssh.) All of them should be removed, the corrupted govt should be thrown. All political parties should be abolished, and new ones should be created with the agenda of unity, and anti-terrorism, and nation in mind. And the action driven youth (28+) should become the ministers, along with a few experienced and uncorrupt people, and should be backed by the businessmen.
The entire face of India's secutiry must be changed. Goddamn it, first give your security good weapons! Otherwise how do you expect them to protect our country?! When the nation's arms and ammunitions are pretty much outdated, anything can happen. PAy attention to the defense rather than creating riots!
Since India's population is HUGE, it's all of us who's to be blamed, not only the terrorist. We've been indifferent, and let them exploit the loopholes inside the system. WE, alone with others have to take initiative, and actually start doing things. Like for one, be vigilant, always. Well so on and so forth.
I'm numbstruck. I don't know what else to say. These terrorists infiltrated my city, and they destroyed my hometown.
Ah, yes. This is a battle of terrorism versus humanity. Terrorism has no face, for it's cowardly. Terrorism has no nationality, and please dont blame Pakistan for it. While Pakistan does nothing to stop terrorism, has training camps and all that,its also been a victim of terror. They've also faced an attack in one of their hotels, JW MAriott, like the Taj. I have some PAkistani friends, and I genuinely think they are innocents. Terrorism has no religion, so please dont blame muslims for it. When a muslim can kill a fellow muslims (there were so many Muslims who died in this terror attacks); terrorists cannot be generalized as muslims.
It'd be a wrong move to wage a war against PAkistan, because in the end innocents like you and me, in Pakistan will be killed, while all the terrorists like LeT, JeM, and others will be completely safe.
So please, it's terrorism versus humanity. All I ask is stay united, and stay safe.
Gr8 work divyesh... Very well comprehended. I guess you should update it again and include the after effect of the incident. Bt again a very gud job...You must get a Pat on The Back for this work man....
Heyyyyyy divee very goood work yaar.. i think every citizen should start thinking like you... commmon guyzz lets change our nation...
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