Well, I am writing this blog after a long long time. I just couldn't resist. Our city has been under attack for the past 24 hrs. Last nite was the nite i never slept... it was scary, horrifying and it was indeed a long long nite for me.
It all started close to 10:15pm when one of my collegues Kapil told us that there has been some firing @ the CST station. We did not take it seriously, infact joked it and continued working. I choose to search the net. I checked timesofindia.com, it didnt have any news abt it. I then checked rediff. I was expecting something on rediff. Alas, they said there was some gang war, but added that firing has been reported in Taj and Oberoi hotel too. Something was wrong. But still we continued working. Then TCS security officers came to us and asked us to stay indoors. They said that if we need to go then we should go at our own risk, but insisted that we stay indoors. When some of my collegue started leaving, news reagrding blasts and grenade throwing came to us. I got really concerned, called a couple of my friends and checked abour their whereabouts. All were fine. My sister and my parents were @ home, they were safe too.
I was on a call with my onsite co-ordinator, Sriram. I told him about the news reports, but none of us understood the seriousness of it. He asked me to take a cab home, but I was preferring to go by trains. But nevertheless, i had a different strategy. The strategy to avoid getting stuck in a bottleneck. I chose to leave late in the nite, maybe by 12:30am or so. I continued working...
The TCS security guys came to us and told us that we can go the next morning as they have locked up the gates. No one is allowed to come in nor anyone is permitted to go out. I was happy the concern showed by the concern showed by my organization towards our security.
Sriram then pinged me on the messenger and asked me to stay indoors, he sent me a ibnlive link that has livefeed of the news channel. He asked me to check the link... I turned on my PC speakers and began watching the feed. My sleepless nite began since then...
Kapil went to the dormitory to sleep, but I choose to stay awake and watch the developments. At times the feed would slow down when I start the development server on my machine, so i minimized it and kep on hearing the news. Still every single minute has been horrifying for me.
I will never forget... this horrid nite.
I will never forget the 3 bright police officers who lost their lives in this fateful nite. Even few minutes back, when IBN live ran a small tribute to these 3 officers, tears rolled out of my eyes. All these 3 men were doign was their job. Losing your life for doing your job, disturbed me. I really thought of all those pampered collegues of mine who crib about their job and felt sorry for them. They should learn something from these men. I was especially moved when Rajdeep Sardesai spoke about these 3 men especially of Ashok Kamthe, his former college mate. I have always had respect for the men in Kakhis... they are the ones who spent sleepless nights so that we sleep in peace. My heart broke when I heard them die 'coz they were doing their job of guarding us !!!
I will never forget the footage of a bullets being fired from a police van at innocent crowd near Metro theatre. A man gets hit on his hand and runs heather sketter. Who would expect such a reaction from a police jeep. Espcially from a place like Metro.. an icon of Indian Cinema.
I will never forget the glamorous, iconic Taj going up in flames. The very fact of smoke coming near the right side of the dome, broke my heart. Since childhood, we have always set a standard that if you have dinner at the Taj, you are amongst the rich and famous. That same Taj is blowing up in flames. The same Taj that Jamshedji Tata deliberately built with its back facing the seas saying the Britishers that you are not welcome. I was praying for that same Tajs safety. I was praying for the hundreads of the hostages that are held inside the 2 hotels.
I will never forget the every minute I spent watching in horror my very own amchi mumbai being torn apart. Mumbai has always been dear to me, its not my Janmabhoomi, but my Karmabhoomi. I pay taxes, I buy tickets to travel in that wretched Virar local, I curse the authority, but its unique to mumbai. I buy tickets to watch movie shot in my very own city. I love those bhel puris near Juhu. Alas, even Juhu was not spared. One of the hotels over there was attacked. My city is under attack.
I am not sure how things are gonna unfold. The big super duper politicians visited JJ Hospital, maybe due to the election season around. Advani delivered a lovely inspiring speech asking each and everyone of us to unite and fight terrorism. It was so inspiring that I ended up lifting up the remote to hit that fucking SOB. Then there was speech by Sanjay Nirupam, Milind Deora etc etc etc... too bad Tata Sky provided my with only one remote. I didnt want to spoil it on these assholes who doesn't even deserve the privilege to feel my fart kissing their faces. Gosh.. wot have I written, nevertheless, thats wot had been going in my mind so I will leep it as it is. Apologies incase I have hurt anyone's sentiments. Please bear with me.
These Newswala, Alyque Padmasee some imminent mumbaikars praised the the 'Spirit Of Mumbai' and requested Mumbaikars to show that spirit again. But the authorities should not take this spirit for granted. I vividly remember the day when we had trian blasts and I somehow managed to reach home late in the night. On my way back home, I knew it was an attack on my city and I knew I need to retaliate some how, but not sure how. As soon as I reached home, I asked my good friend, Harish, for his bike keys so that I can go to the station and plan how do I go to my work the next morning. The 'Spirit of Mumbai' in me did not want me to go down on my knees, sit at home in fear. I went to work the next morning. This spirit should not be taken for granted. Better not be taken for granted... I really hope the authority understand this.