Numb and no not comfortably

11:00 pm Wednesday night message from Kunal: Terrorist attack at Colaba, CST, blast at Vile Parle. Pls check before leaving for office tomorrow.

For once was glad for the 24 hours news channel as I watched the horror unfold - first with a sense of fear and numbness and then with growing fury. Through the night as I was watching the drama questions such as:- how were they able to get in Taj / Oberoi with so much of ammunation, what was the level of planning and many more where pushed to the back of the mind as was waiting for the drama to end.

News of death of 3 high profile Mumbai police officers come out bringing to light one fact - Mumbai police were neither prepared nor did they accurately assess the extent of the situation at hand.

Thursday morning its a mad scramble. PwC Mumbai office is closed. I make a trip to railway station to see whats the scenario like. The usual packed to the brim railways are running empty as most of the schools, colleges and offices are closed. The drama in South Mumbai still continues as couple of good things come out on TV :- No mad rush by politicians to grab the headlines and make senseless comments, most surprisingly TV pundits hold back their analysis and just stick to the news at hand. Though it may be too good to last and in a couple of days we will see what sorts of theories thrown in by so called experts.

Thankfully my entire team is accounted for and hoping and praying that the same is the case with all the other teams.

Thursday afternoon: A bastard going by the name "Imran Babar" calls India Tv claiming that he is from Hyderabad and all this was done to alert the people of India that Muslims are ill treated in India and Muslims can also live with their heads held high. What is very apparent from his accent is that he is definitely not from Hyderabad, if anything his accent is the same as that of the Punjabi Pakistani's. Even in all this I want to believe that an average Muslim has nothing to do with this and Islam like all other religions will be the first to condemn this hideous act.

What is this then: Probably an effort by our great neighbours to try and divide the society further. As it is there is so much of social unrest and an act like this will increase the divide.

What is also becoming increasingly clear is the amount of planning involved, there must be some insiders who helped these people and lack of any information on part of our intelligence agency.

Navy Vice Admiral from Western Command is talking on Star News claiming that his Marco's (Marine Commanders) have come against an extremely determined and well prepared group and are finding it tough to break them. My understanding is Marco's are the best prepared commando force in the country and they should have more determination then the terrorist to safe guard the nation.

4:30 PM Prime Minister addresses the nation. The most irritating thing which I find about his address is that it’s in "English". Why can't the PM communicate with the nation in our national language at such grave times? Are there more people in India who understand English then Hindi? What will the common man who is terrified and still believes that the government will protect him understand Hindi or English? Anyways the honorable Prime Minister makes all the usual noises alleging Pakistan, we will punish every individual. I will believe him only when I see concrete action. Bloody if the plan was made in Karachi – wahan jake maro, ghar main ghus ko maro unko.

Imran Babar claims: - Ki usko uski maa ney isi din kay liye dudh pila kay bada kiya tha. Use to maro aur aise haram kay jane ko paida karne wali maa ko bhi.

24 hours since the news broke and our NSG is still fighting to take control at all the 3 places where terrorist are actives. The fighting at Taj seems to be nearing in ends, but enough damage has been done to this iconic landmark of Mumbai. Meanwhile I am wondering how is it possible for terrorist to make the calls to TV channels. There is also news of finding a mobile phone which was dropped by one of the terrorist and is constantly ringing with incoming calls from Pakistan. I wonder why mobile jammers aren’t placed near these buildings to cut of all means of communications. Won’t Taj and Oberoi have central air conditioning why can’t we induce nerve gas through them to immobilize the terrorist? So many questions but no answers.

I am spared the image of Shivraj Patil in his crisp safari making statements which may trivialize the whole situation.

Friday morning as I get ready for office TV is still broadcasting the images of operations undergoing at Oberoi and Nariman House. The best commando force in the country is not able to crack a few determined blokes for over 30 hours now. Just highlights the fact that we are simply not prepared for such kind of scenarios - Hostage situations in urban landscape. Thankfully the Taj operation is completed.

Travelling in the train I mull over a disturbing thought: - what if the there are more such terrorist units in the city at other places or in other cities and what will happen if they get into action as soon as this gets over.

But more disturbing is the thought that what can I as a common citizen do in such situation: - I generally go through the security at malls or other public places without much fuss, but I see a lot of people treating the security as unnecessary nuisance. Next time when there is security or delay I will be more tolerant. As a citizen I may have to give way to some of my freedom and I will be ready for it. Be more alert on road and notice if something is out of usual. In a nation like India there is only so much which administration can do, but as a citizen I need to be more alert and proactive.

Whether the administration does its duty is something which we have to see, else the lives of Hemant Karkare, Vijay Salaskar, Kamate will be wasted. Closing the piece with a tribute to these fearless leaders of men who walked in the hands of death and hoping against hope that their sacrifices will not go in vain.

निर्मिला हा मंत्र ज्यानी आचारिला झुन्जुनी

ते हुतात्मे वीर झाले स्वर्ग लोकी जवुनी

गा त्यांच्या आरतीचे गीत वंदे मातरम