26th November

26th night, I heard my father saying that some people have just started firing in Mumbai. I thought "oh god! not those fanatics again". I thought this was yet another effort to send non-maharastrians out. I really didnt bother to look into the news and get the details. Early next morning i went to office as usual. Thanks to Software industry, nobody even bothered to talk about it. People went on with their usual work. I didnt realise the enormity of the situation until one of my friend started a chain mail about it. Thats when i went back and had a look at the latest news. Thats when i realised "Terrorists had started firing indiscriminately in Mumbai". Thats when i realised i was wrong in not taking the news seriously. First thing i did ofcourse was to ensure everyone i knew were ok.Later in the evening wheni went back home the first thing i did was to switch to news channels. What i saw, shocked me. Each channel was showing different situations in 3 different places: Taj, Oberoi and Nariman. Oberoi had a blast and i could see the flames coming out of the window. I realised people were still battling for their survival inside. I heard the reporter say NSG commandos were on the operation and people outside could hear gunshots outside. "oh god! what else does our country have to face" same thought came to mind over and over again.I switched to another channel and saw that they were talking about bravehearts who lost their lives fighting for the country and the countrymen. They showed pictures of people like Karkare sir who went leading his team to combat with the terrorists. Those were his last pictures. I had somehow controlled my emotions all the while watching. The moment they showed the bravehearts i couldnt take it anymore. I have cried more than i have cried in last few years put together. It was so disturbing and i was so moved. The next 2 days went on this way seeing more bravehearts sacrifice their lives and others struggling to get the terrorists. I couldnt take my eyes off the tv. There were so many stories of bravery not just from the NSG commandos or the police, but also from civilians. There was this announcer at CST station who saved so many lives giving continuous instructions to move out from the back gate. Amble sir, who sacrificed his life by taking all the bullets, shot by the terrorist and yet held on to the terrorist as a result of which we have the terrorist in captivity. These people would have been just any other person on a normal day but they made a difference by being a moment more braver than the rest. Thats why they are bravehearts. To this day, i read different stories of bravery in newspaper. I cut all those articles and treasure them. This is my small tribute to them .
So many families are going through the trauma. It is so disturbing. It all seems to be just a beginning. God knows how many more incidents like this will take place. this is not the first time our Country is hit by outsiders. This has been happening over centuries. Earlier it was empires and dynasties. Now it is just in another form as "terrorism". It feels like history is repeating but with a new form. But again its very depressing!
Someday hopefully things will settle down and humans will realise humanity comes above all.