26/11 Attacks - Reflections

[ravishingravi]

Few memories from 26/11 attack. 

 

1) Sheer terror about gun men roaming freely in places I used to visit very often. 

 

2) Helplessness of state appartus as we had got sucked into a goose chase lasting for 3 days 

 

3) A friend stuck on second floor of Leopold cafe on the night of the attack trying to reach his family. 

 

4) Courage of some of our police officer who helped kill the terrorists especially get Kasab alive. They did not have the weapons or training but lot of heart. Special regards to major UnniKrishnan

 

5) Irresponsible coverage by news channels especially Barkha dutt revealing sources and locations on live TV 

 

6) Sheer impotence of the party in power to not strike back. 

Edited November 28, 2021 by ravishingravi

[Mariyam]

My parents were attending the wedding/reception of a business acquaintance at the Taj on the day of the attacks. But they left an hour before the attacks commenced. My dadi was on her death bed and my father wanted to be with her. There were casualties from that wedding.

 

 

[Clarke]

There were many others but my biggest takeaway was national security doesn't resonate as a vote issue across the country. Waving farm loans benefits a lot more people than coastline monitoring and urban rapid response teams at least in the short term. 

[MechEng]

1 hour ago, ravishingravi said:

Few memories from 26/11 attack. 

 

1) Sheer terror about gun men lying freely in places I used to visit very often. 

 

2) Helplessness of state appartus as we had got sucked into a goose chase lasting for 3 days 

 

3) A friend stuck on second floor of Leopold cafe on the night of the attack trying to reach his family. 

 

4) Courage of some of our police officer who helped kill the terrorists especially get Kasab alive. They did not have the weapons or training but lot of heart. Special regards to major UnniKrishnan

 

5) Irresponsible coverage by news channels especially Barkha dutt revealing sources and locations on live TV 

 

6) Sheer impotence of the party in power to not strike back. 

 

The biggest reason why UPA lost 2014 elections. Yes Congress was guilty of corruption with Robert Vadra scams and etc., but the reason why got voted out was point number 6.

[Mariyam]

I first met Divya at Kaleidoscope in Sep 2008. We were both representing different colleges and were competing against each other. That however didn't stop us from interacting with each other and over the course of the festival, we became close friends . You tend to be so full of trust at that age. You make friends without a second thought. She also started hanging out with my friends and me with hers. The way regular college going kids do.Back then Motley was performing "Waiting for Godot" and I remember we were mesmerised by the play. We would talk about it for hours.

She loved watching plays. She was very well acquainted with the works of various playwrights, Indian and otherwise and her expositions on a play were always very insightful and profound. 

So I did have this bad habit of peeping into other peoples phones. I wouldn't go out of my way to look into it. But if in front of me, I'd definitely look that side casually. She was writing something and her phone kept flashing " control room". So I asked her if this what she saved her boyfriend's number as. She said it was her dad who was a cop. 

Her father was Vijay Salaskar, and he was martyred fighting the terrorists. Divya totally cut off from all her friends. She went outside the country to study. Me and a few other of her friends went to Divya's home a few years later. Only her mother was home and she made us tea and would break down into tears mid conversation. This is 2+ years after the attacks.

I also made it a point to go there and personally hand over my wedding invite. Her mother told me wouldn't come. Blessed me. Held me. And cried.

 

In that decade since the attacks, I never met Divya. She returned from her college abroad, got on with life. Left the country again. Returned again. Perhaps we spoke 5-6 times in those 10 years. 

 

My daughter loves canapes from poetry and I take her there for a good behaviour treat quite frequently. On one such trip in 2019, when my daughter just started to string sentences, I saw Divya there. Sitting alone. Reading a book.

She spent the next one hour talking/playing with my daughter. We spoke. We cried. We reconnected.

 

She hadn't seen a single play in all those years.

 

 

 

 

[Mariyam]

Lashkar got away very lightly. They lost 10 terrorists who were cannon fodder.

 

I hope in my lifetime we get to see our Army/Intelligence butcher the Lashkar leadership/handlers and anyone who provided them any support the same way those 10 terrorists butchered our people.

 

 

[Clarke]

7 minutes ago, MechEng said:

 

The biggest reason why UPA lost 2014 elections. Yes Congress was guilty of corruption with Robert Vadra scams and etc., but the reason why got voted out was point number 6.

 

So people didn't mind all the lapses that lead to the attacks & mayhem and the subsequent incompetence & callousness and voted for UPA again in 2009 months after the attacks, waited 5 years for counter strikes and finally gave up 

 

 

[ravishingravi]

31 minutes ago, MechEng said:

 

The biggest reason why UPA lost 2014 elections. Yes Congress was guilty of corruption with Robert Vadra scams and etc., but the reason why got voted out was point number 6.

Well they did win 2009. Ideally you would think that this should have been the end of that regime. 
 

I remember Advani shamelessly trying to use this event to posture himself as iron man. None of this worked. 
 

Perhaps it was a different India

 

 

[ravishingravi]

29 minutes ago, Mariyam said:

I first met Divya at Kaleidoscope in Sep 2008. We were both representing different colleges and were competing against each other. That however didn't stop us from interacting with each other and over the course of the festival, we became close friends . You tend to be so full of trust at that age. You make friends without a second thought. She also started hanging out with my friends and me with hers. The way regular college going kids do.Back then Motley was performing "Waiting for Godot" and I remember we were mesmerised by the play. We would talk about it for hours.

She loved watching plays. She was very well acquainted with the works of various playwrights, Indian and otherwise and her expositions on a play were always very insightful and profound. 

So I did have this bad habit of peeping into other peoples phones. I wouldn't go out of my way to look into it. But if in front of me, I'd definitely look that side casually. She was writing something and her phone kept flashing " control room". So I asked her if this what she saved her boyfriend's number as. She said it was her dad who was a cop. 

Her father was Vijay Salaskar, and he was martyred fighting the terrorists. Divya totally cut off from all her friends. She went outside the country to study. Me and a few other of her friends went to Divya's home a few years later. Only her mother was home and she made us tea and would break down into tears mid conversation. This is 2+ years after the attacks.

I also made it a point to go there and personally hand over my wedding invite. Her mother told me wouldn't come. Blessed me. Held me. And cried.

 

In that decade since the attacks, I never met Divya. She returned from her college abroad, got on with life. Left the country again. Returned again. Perhaps we spoke 5-6 times in those 10 years. 

 

My daughter loves canapes from poetry and I take her there for a good behaviour treat quite frequently. On one such trip in 2019, when my daughter just started to string sentences, I saw Divya there. Sitting alone. Reading a book.

She spent the next one hour talking/playing with my daughter. We spoke. We cried. We reconnected.

 

She hadn't seen a single play in all those years.

 

 

 

 

It’s very heart wrenching. Thanks for sharing. I had a chance to befriend Karkare family. I am happy to see that her daughter is doing well.
 

 I must say this event radically changed me too and my view on policy, politics and role of state.  
 

 

[ravishingravi]

 

 

 

[ravishingravi]

 

[ravishingravi]

I used to visit Olympia and Léopold every day after that. See the bullet holes in the walls. 
 

Imagine the plight of my friend trapped in Léopold on 2 nd floor as there is shootout downstairs. It’s just by chance they decided not to waste time and go upstairs. 
 

India has come a long way. 

[EnterTheVoid]

Too horrible to think about.

Missus is from Mumbai. Born and bred there.

 

That night she was loitering around Colaba. She had some very close calls. 

We never discuss that topic - She doesn't want to discuss it. I don't want to raise it. 

Edited November 26, 2021 by EnterTheVoid

[EnterTheVoid]

Those mofos Digvijaya Singh and Mahesh Bhatt, they should be charged with treason

[ravishingravi]

It’s quite interesting watching some old videos of the day. India was plumelled by terror attacks during this period. One of my friends lost hearing in train bombing.  26/11 was just on different scale. But all the major cities were attacked till 2014. Yes the libbies get convulsions over. But it’s just statistical fact that India and NSA has managed to curb many terror attacks. 
 

The funny part of the below video is that perhaps all of them rightly outraged at the sheer un preparedness would be wrist slitting today for one lynching incident somewhere that has put country back to Stone Age. They are talking here about a « super power » with 8% growth can look so inept. It’s just strange how time changes everything. I have no doubt we made the turn in 2014. National security is basis for all other possibilities. 
 

 

 

Edited November 26, 2021 by ravishingravi

[Clarke]

^^ Meh, celebs discussing terror attack. Do we also consult them on space programme, energy future & education policy ? Coz they're equal experts in all of them. 

[Yoda-esque]

Remember ram Gopal Varma and Riteish deshmukh visiting the site immediately after,such was the joke that congress had become.

Am glad BJP is in power.The Kangress should never be allowed to humiliate India again.

[sergio04]

 

[sergio04]

 

[dial_100]

It was an act of war and we didnt do $hit against. My blood boils. Not just that until 2014 their preparedness was none.

 

Worst day of my life. Mumbai is my birth place and it is special place for me. I had visited all these places when I stayed in the city for many years. I wont say much about personal stuff because this is not a right place for it. But those who lose know how much it hurts.

 

Only saving grace in this 3 day long terror act was the piglet getting caught. I will forever be indebted to the god that he was caught alive because if it was not so today we would have been experiencing different India. Since 2014, we have controlled the situation though there is long way to go.

 

We/Indians are not intolerant or we dont hate any specific people. It just that we have grown seeing this, not for 1 or 2 years or not jsut 1 or 2 incidences but every major city, all festive occasions, all year long, again and again for many decades. 

 

But but we have to blame RSS and RW for intolerance. $uckign bollywood jumped the gun letting off those who perpetrated the terrorist act in india, saying lets not blame blah blah while people like Mahesh Bhatt declared it being carried out by RSS and brought Hindu terror angle literally in a bollywood movie style. 

 

Irony is that SS who always claimed to be hindu savior converged with the same Cong/NCP who blamed Hindus for terrorism in India. Despite 26/11 happening in the same Mumbai that SS swaggered as their Karma bhumi. If we cannot trust SS then how do we expect anything better from leaders like Akhilesh, Mamta, or any communist and leftists.