Gambit Posted July 12, 2007 Share Posted July 12, 2007 11/7: We MUST remember Vaihayasi Pande Daniel It was a rainy, dark evening. Quite like another one not so long ago. On a ride home from Mahim, past Matunga, Dadar and Parel, the scenes were ordinary. Very everyday. Knots of tired people waiting for buses under their dripping umbrellas. Throngs of office-goers hurrying across thoroughfares to get home. Traffic inching relentlessly ahead in the drizzle. Stereos pumped music from cruising cars and laughter, curls of smoke and happiness rang out from others. The shops we passed were bright and humming with late evening sales. Strings of lights lit up a building for a wedding or some sort of celebration. Suddenly the so very ordinary look to the day was depressing. Sadness welled up. The city famous for its 'return to normalcy' was taking this business of normalcy too far. It hardly cared to pause or stop to remember tragedies that crumpled its spine. No, it was business as usual. There was no time to look back. It was as if 187 people had never died in seven bomb explosions in seven trains exactly one year ago. Mumbai did not wish to remember. Life had to go on. That's incredibly admirable from one standpoint. And grossly intolerable from another. Many of my journalist colleagues had knocked on the doors of families of victims to talk to them, see how they were faring and get their stories. Doors were quietly and firmly shut on them. They were told that the family did not want to speak. Did not want reopen last year's wounds. Or remember the past. Completely understandable for these families who have had agonising times. But journalists and politicians are always accused of taking advantage of tragedy either for sales or votes. Of reminding people of 9/11, 11/7 and the '93 blasts. Of marking anniversaries and raking up old calamities. I don't agree. True, journalists are seldom the victims. Nor do they suffer the agony of the injured. But they are the bystanders. The people who stood at the bedsides of victims frozen into coma for the past year. Or waited at morgues, hospitals and sites of blasts, right there on the frontlines, watching a parade of death and scenes that sear your soul. Or know the touching, soul-wrenching stories of the helpless few for whom that famous normalcy will never return. If you have stood for hours covering a tragedy, mutely witnessed blood, tears, fatalities and the death of humanity, you wonder in sad bewilderment how can anniversaries, or another 11/7, go by without all of us not wanting to remember what Mumbai has been through! We must remember, lest we forget goes that oft repeated line. It is perfectly true. July 11, 2007 did not deserve to be an ordinary day. It is a day of anger. A day to respectfully honour hundreds of citizens -- who could have been you or me � killed in the space of minutes. Of lives lost. Of homes shattered. How can we not remember them? One feels loads of anger too. Anger that cannot be directed anywhere but instead ricochets around the place like steam in a tight pressure cooker. Anger at the helpless state of our times where just mere weeks separates blasts in Glasgow from bombs in Ankara. Who will be next? Anger that fools believe that God wills them to kill in his name. If there indeed was a God would he have allowed honest, kind people to be ripped to bhurji. Or innocent young children to lose the gentle souls who were their fathers? Or pay back hard-working, good people with death and destruction? Anger that we do not care to remember the scores of people who died like flies. Are we too busy making money, catching buses, vulgarly struggling to survive? Has that deprived us of some essential humanity? Or are there too many of us and if a few fall off the bus it just means more space for the rest? I do not want to forget what happened 12 months ago. Nor be philosophical about karma or be resigned to fate. Nor do I feel this is a day to childishly, crudely rant and rave against other religions and faiths. Human life, or any life for that matter, cannot be in vain. Life must be respected. We are not inhuman. I want to remember what we have been through and quietly shed a tear for those lives needlessly, heedlessly lost. I believe Mumbai too must stop and pause in silence for the 187 people lost to this city on July 11. And again on August 26 and March 12.http://www.rediff.com/news/2007/jul/12vpd.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beetle Posted July 12, 2007 Share Posted July 12, 2007 The bogie that was ripped apart has been put back on the line... A symbolic victory! .....I hope it is a reminder to the govt of what can go wrong....... It is nice to see that the press hasn't forgotten it . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
THX_1138 Posted July 12, 2007 Share Posted July 12, 2007 normal train service resumed within six hours... now that is what i call recovery. in the words of denzel washington in "the seige", "this is new york... we can handle it!" well this is mumbai, india... never shall this country be silences, never will it ever surrender... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest dada_rocks Posted July 12, 2007 Share Posted July 12, 2007 Mumbai did what it cud point is what the powers-to-be sitting in delhi did other than some vacuuous posturing...Did anything change which might increase the probability of netting these clowns next time, before they actually blow things up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suma25 Posted July 12, 2007 Share Posted July 12, 2007 well this is mumbai, india... never shall this country be silences, never will it ever surrender... those words are best left to politicians .the main culprit is still free and absconding evenafter yr the blasts took place Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suma25 Posted July 12, 2007 Share Posted July 12, 2007 The bogie that was ripped apart has been put back on the line... A symbolic victory! ....../QUOTE] its not a victory of any sorts.its just atrain being brought on track after ayear nothing more than that......symbolic victory my arse!!!!!the last words was not directed at you though Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suma25 Posted July 12, 2007 Share Posted July 12, 2007 Mumbai did what it cud point is what the powers-to-be sitting in delhi did other than some vacuuous posturing...Did anything change which might increase the probability of netting these clowns next time' date=' before they actually blow things up.[/quote']this fooked u politiciansare best at reminding us the fooked up spirit of mumbai each and every time these blast occurs..yup salute to the spirit of mumbai.:confused_smile: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest dada_rocks Posted July 12, 2007 Share Posted July 12, 2007 this fooked u politiciansare best at reminding us the fooked up spirit of mumbai each and every time these blast occurs..yup salute to the spirit of mumbai.:confused_smile: Even when it gets flooded by rain -water i get to hear same tirade.. chest-thumping on mumbaikar spiirt aside fact in india is when disataster strikes people help each other any-where. In my village my home happens to be right in the middle so avoids being submerged and every year mine and few other people's house turn into refugee camp during flood.It's not just me, am no philanthroe incarante; anyone who is in similar boat willingly lends helping hand. Many of the people who take shelter remain involved in pitched legal battle over one or another issue in better times but that doesn't stop anyone from either seeking or offering shelter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suma25 Posted July 12, 2007 Share Posted July 12, 2007 Even when it gets flooded by rain -water i get to hear same tirade.. chest-thumping on mumbaikar spiirt aside fact in india is when disataster strikes people help each other any-where. In my village my home happens to be right in the middle so avoids being submerged and every year mine and few other people's house turn into refugee camp during flood.It's not just me, am no philanthroe incarante; anyone who is in similar boat willingly lends helping hand. Many of the people who take shelter remain involved in pitched legal battle over one or another issue in better times but that doesn't stop anyone from either seeking or offering shelter.no bahiya this spirit is very unique to mumbai you dont understand and I am not talking about helping each other I am talking abt its mumbai's"ability to stand back on its feet after such incident takes place no matter how many times the blast takes place. heck even newyork wasnt able to dothat after 9/11 its a sign of moral victory don t u see ...up yours u fooking terrorists.salute to mumbaikars for ur spirit...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rajiv Posted July 13, 2007 Share Posted July 13, 2007 Sure, kudos to the folks of Mumbai. The spirit is incorporated in all mumbai'tes, just get over it and keep walking But, I would like to make another point. All this spirit is evident only in such big disasters, I can tell you many incidents where a person is lying hurt on the road or railway track and no one will come to assist, they fear the cnsequences I am sorry but at that time, the spirit is nowhere to be seen [ P.S For those who don't know. I am a Pukka Mumbai'ite ] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suma25 Posted July 13, 2007 Share Posted July 13, 2007 Sure, kudos to the folks of Mumbai. The spirit is incorporated in all mumbai'tes, just get over it and keep walking But, I would like to make another point. All this spirit is evident only in such big disasters, I can tell you many incidents where a person is lying hurt on the road or railway track and no one will come to assist, they fear the cnsequences I am sorry but at that time, the spirit is nowhere to be seen [ P.S For those who don't know. I am a Pukka Mumbai'ite ]Exactly rajeev the socalled spirit of mumbai is nothing but hogwash as dr said this socalled 'spirit of mumbai' can be seen in other states as well when such disaster or calmity strikes .... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cricketics Posted July 13, 2007 Share Posted July 13, 2007 someone send the link of this thread to cc.. he will come and start saying - fack mumbai and fack any other state of India.. my baghdad, or where ever hez from.. has much better spirit in them and stuff.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aditi Posted July 13, 2007 Share Posted July 13, 2007 this fooked u politiciansare best at reminding us the fooked up spirit of mumbai each and every time these blast occurs..yup salute to the spirit of mumbai.:confused_smile: You ever lived in Mumbai? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rahul Posted July 13, 2007 Share Posted July 13, 2007 ^^ yeah, right on Adi. folks (as usual) misunderstood rajeev's post. obviously, suma has nary a clue abt the big city, the bestest. i covered the fiasco when the serial blasts happened... no city like mumbai. ekdum halkaa ho gaya bhidu. hataa saavan ki ghataa, hawaa aane de. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suma25 Posted July 13, 2007 Share Posted July 13, 2007 ^^ yeah, right on Adi. folks (as usual) misunderstood rajeev's post. obviously, suma has nary a clue abt the big city, the bestest. i covered the fiasco when the serial blasts happened... no city like mumbai. ekdum halkaa ho gaya bhidu. hataa saavan ki ghataa, hawaa aane de. Iam from Mumbai boss so .....i know what happened during the blasts not as much as you since you have covered the blasts more closely and witnessed the horrific scenes but i have seen similar scenes(ofpeople helpingeach other on tv during the new york blasts as well Iam not beliitling those who helped out and reached out to those victims .kudos to them. whetther these blast had occured at hyderabd chennai or even smaller cities people would have come out and helped. You ever lived in Mumbai?yes my whole life right now iam in mumbai..... the one of the neglected part of mumbai in dahisar heard of the place????? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rahul Posted July 13, 2007 Share Posted July 13, 2007 ^^suma, in that case, i misunderstood. yeah, dahisar is the last stop in metro mumbai on western line. the name derives from the curd-sellers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gs Posted July 13, 2007 Share Posted July 13, 2007 Yeah, dahisar is to mumbai what srilanka is to india - in terms of geographical location :tounge_smile: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rajiv Posted July 13, 2007 Share Posted July 13, 2007 Yeah' date=' dahisar is to mumbai what srilanka is to india - in terms of geographical location :tounge_smile:[/quote'] Yeah, Dahisar has Murli Bhai too Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CC1981 Posted July 13, 2007 Share Posted July 13, 2007 Can't help but marvel at Mumbai's indomitable spirit. Not many places in India which could avoid senseless retaliatory killing of innocents like Mumbai has avoided, despite provocation from the terrorists. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lurker Posted July 13, 2007 Share Posted July 13, 2007 Can't help but marvel at Mumbai's indomitable spirit. Not many places in India which could avoid senseless retaliatory killing of innocents like Mumbai has avoided' date=' despite provocation from the terrorists.[/quote'] Sorry I disagree. I love Mumbai to death but the fact remains that all these strength-wrength is only a hogwash. I remember how after one of these blasts(in Mumbai) the train started the very next day. I was on one of these trains and as I passed one of the sites where a blast had happened I saw blood all over the walls, only 24 hours earlier someone had possibly died there and as a "machine" I was on my way to work the very next day. Spirit? What effing spirit? Folks like me became shameless that day. By the way where does this end? Punjab had "indomitable spirit" and faced terrorism, no other state would have survived(or so they say). BIharis have indomitable spirit carrying on their lives in one of the poorest part of the country. blah blah..maybe in all earnest all that happens after such a blasts is that we lose a certain part of us - the good part. xxx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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