The city that welcomes everyone with open arms need to be careful now. 11/26 terrorism has changed the face of the city. I saw silence in Mumbai for the first time in that last one year. There was no rick or taxi on the road. Everyopne was home with the television on.
It was around 8 when I left for the club. Had a nice time in water; nothing seems as good as swimming to me these days. I was supposed to go to Bandra after swimming for dinner. But Jiya , the three yrs old friend of mine , didn't lemme go. She kept insisting me to stay back for a sopu with her. As a matter of fact, I could not say No to the sweetest swimming champ and stayed back. I called up my friend Ram and informed him that I would meet him the next day. We had dinner and I started. I reached home around 10:30pm. My Didi called me up and she was sounding very tensed & restless. Asked me where I was. I told her that I was just reaching home. She told me to go home immediately as there was terrorist attack. It was sort of unbelievable to me. I just came back and everything was so normal, how could there be terrorist attck. I told her it might be some local fights and not something so serious but she kept telling me NO. I went upstairs and told this to my friends. Immediately there was call from home asking if we were safe. In next two hrs we heard about the ATS Chief, ACP and Eccounter specialsit were shut dead. This was really shocking. We could imagine the degree of fearfulness in the city. We got calls from collegues saying that they were stuck up in the office and some on roads as there were no modes of transport available. I was glad that I didnt go to Bandra. Thanks to Jiya.
We were watching news the whole night. Friends from all over the world calling us to confirm that we were safe. It was hard to see the city under terror. It was so hard to take that Taj and Oberoi were the targets. People at Cafe Leopard and Marine drive 're the victims. We were thankful that it had not happened the last weekend when we were hanginmg around in Inercontinetal till 3am and then in the coffee shop on Marine drive till 5am in the morning. It was scarry to think about the attacks in the places where we go very often. The city that never sleeps was so silent that night.
Next morning we got calls from office to avoid travelling and to work from home if possible. But we preferred watching the condition of the city rather than working from home. By morning there was hope that NSG Commandos would do wanders and save all hostages. With all their expert skills also it took them nearly 60 hrs to release all hostages. They were greeted by Mumbai ki aam janta after the operation was over. I had always read about bomb blasts and attacks at different places. This time I was the part of the city where such attacks took place.
Its nearly 15days after the attack but we can still see the sign of fear. The malls are not as crowded as before. The city is less crowded in the late eveninngs. We took part in the silent prayers held all over the city. We still read the terrorism attack news in the paper and listen to the same lines on FM radio "Mumbai will not sleep this time". We are hoping that this time things would be taken care of and we would not see any such day in this lively city.
