*Disclaimer: Long post. Reader discretion advised.*
And there was blood on the streets.... yet again. Yet again, Mumbai bleeds. Yet again, politicians pass the blame, yet again innocent people lose their lives. Yet again. Yet again, there is gonna be an avalanche of blog posts being posted, numerous articles, TV shows, debates etc on terrorism, but then after a week, this night will remain in history books and statistics as yet another terror attack. We, the common people can make a difference.... by voicing our exasperation and choosing the next government that will do what US did post 9/11. I don't want Indian govt. to ruin another country, but nab and curb terrorists and terrorism. Or at least, just prosecute them quickly.
First when the news of some firing was reported, I assumed it was a gang war, as not much was known about it then. After 10 minutes, while I was talking on the phone, I heard a huge sound but dismissed it as someone shutting the door rather loudly. After some time, there was a news flash that a taxi exploded near the airport. It was a low intensity blast. Nobody had shut the door, it was a low intensity explosion that took place in Vile Parle East, which I heard clearly in West. I can only imagine what a high intensity blast would be like. Could see smoke of the blast from my terrace. The entire feeling of having heard a blast was ghoulish.
But then the what the city faced was above what I went through. Indiscriminate firings, bomb blasts, hostage situations.... urghhh. The terrorists targeted posh hotels in South Mumbai at peak business time, of course to maximise the intensity of their attack. Two terrorists opened blind fire at CST on anyone they set their sight upon. Very much like the Virginia Tech incident last year in USA. Before people could get a grip of what was happening, it was all over. Either they were dead, or some miracle happened and they remained alive. Similar kind attacks took place at Taj Hotel and Oberoi Hotel.
While I was watching the News, Arnab Goswami,Times Now, mentioned that one woman from Taj messaged them at Taj, there were no lights and the terrorists were indiscriminately shooting. We, sitting in our living rooms cannot even imagine that scene, of staring death right in its fate, actually not even being able to stare. Worse even for the people from the forces who're going in to fight terrorists.... fighting for people whom they don't know....and at the behest of people who don't care for anything besides their 'kursi'. RIP all the people who left for their heavenly abode.
Mumbai Mirror, the next day carried a picture of a terrorist who wreaked havoc at CST. He didn't look more than 20, wearing jeans and t-shirt, and looking from a very well-to-do family. Must be educated as well. Looking at this I was just marvelling at the convincing powers of these terrorists who can convince these young educated guys to renounce everything to kill themselves and others.
I know, I may sound uninformed, but I really don't get what jehad is for. I mean what are jehadis fighting for? Money, land, love, religion? Religion, I presume. I have no clue about what exactly is in Quran, but I'm sure that it doesn't preach killing others even to protect Itself. My friend said, they do this for "Aman", peace... peace?! You've gotta be kidding me! You don't cause cancer only because you want to cure it. But then in a way, they may be doing it for peace. If everyone's dead.... there'll be peace... isn't it? At least then, after that there won't be anyone who'd have to die again, only because of someone's fanaticism. Once again people will start hating Muslims. And Muslims will hate non-Muslims for generalizing them. And the hate game will continue and the main reason behind it will be forgotten. Why can't we just see terrorism as a human v/s human game? Why categorise people as Muslims, Hindus, Pakistanis, Americans, Afghanis, Iraqis, Indians, or Brits? They're all human beings at the end of the day who are suffering. I think this should be the bottomline regardless of the name on their passports. This point was very poignantly shown in A Wednesday, when Anupam Kher never asked Naseerudin Shah's name.
Morning papers mentioned Advani blaming the Government for being soft on terrorists.Raj Thackeray, again blamed 'outsiders' for everything. Can't these people for once stop snowballing every event into a political opportunity for one-up manship. Learn something from John McCain who accepted defeat so graciously and pledged to lend support to Obama resurrect US from the crisis it is in. I don't see this happening in India anytime soon. I hope and vehemently wish I'm proved wrong. I think, I'm beginning to be proven wrong, just saw on TV, Narendra Modi offering all kind of help without indulging in cheap politics. I really feel that BJP should've had him as their PM candidate.
Barkha Dutt very rightly said that the modus operandi of this attack belonged to the old school fidayeen attacks, seen rampantly in Jammu and Kashmir, where fidayeens use grenades and hold people hostages. Counter attacks go on for hours, eventually culminating in days and the building down in ashes. I don't want the entry point of Mumbai down in ashes. I just refuse to even think of this possibility. Hope we don't have to come to a time where the entrance to Mumbai is a dry, barren land marred by blood stains and remnants of weapons. Mumbai is the city that never sleeps..... yesterday, for the first time, She was scared to sleep.
