When Terror Struck India
Only 45 minutes more and 26th November, 2008 will be once again, a chunk of history, terrible, painful but real, for yet another year till perhaps its another 26th November of another year. How does it feel to live then for another 365 days in a world that has no god?
Well, I don’t know. Neither can you say or perhaps those who weren’t in the heat of the scene. These scenes that unfolded in a span of 72 hours, had Taj Mahal Hotel, Oberoi Hotel and Nariman House as its prime backdrops. For music there was a cacophony of bullets and cries. Human Cries. Of Pain, of terror, of loss. And there were many characters. Most of them good and innocent. And there were ten men. Men in black. With hi-tech gadgets, cellphones and weapons. They were the unforgettable mediators of the incredible nights. They were the Jihadis who painted Mumbai red. Blood red.
Several lost their lives. Several were dead before they could utter any word at all. Or perhaps see death’s face properly. While survivors cluttered towards empty terror-ridden exits, mumbai came alive, nervous, nude and shaken. People ran on streets, on stations. Helping injured. Bodies lay scattered. Someone’s head all smeared, someone paralysed. Several talked of politics and politicians when the rage called Jihaad was busy sweeping Mumbai security off its wobbly floors. But the sentiment was one. It was unique, it was singular. It was “Indian.”
When a young girl ran on the street towards an injured woman, she did not enquire whether the woman buried under blood was a hindu, a jew, a muslim or a christian. All she bothered then was, whether she was alive. When Oberoi’s chief chef decided on the face of death to defy a terrorist’s order to burn the Oberoi restaurant down, he did not think of his mother or father who heard when the bullets tore their sons down. He thought of his duty, and above all, he thought of his country.
There’s no conclusion to my article. No conclusion to the terror nights that shook the very complacency of Indian security infrastructure. No conclusion to the little heavy stories of those unlucky ones who survived the terror. And absolutely no conclusion to the question- If this world has no god, can man survive at all?
Popularity: 2%