Sixty hours of senseless terror rage.

Taj Mahal of Agra was Shah Jahans memorial to the woman he loved-This Taj Mahal, the heritage hotel, icon of Mumbai, was Jamsetji Tata's gift to the city he loved. Any sailor who enters the B'bay harbor will be greeted by the magnificent hotel first. The Gateway of India came much later(20 yrs). Even now with so many high raised buildings in the skyline, this hotel attarcts the attention first. And this heritage monumental beauty was chosen by some mindless fanatics to be blown. Even though they have failed in doing it, enough damage has been done, and many lives lost in the process.The captured terrorist has confessed that they had planned to blow up the hotel and bring it down, a replica of the attack on the Mrriott, Islamabad. Alas they misjudged the strength of the super structure of this pride of Mumbai. It is a puzzle why the Indian Government never beefed up the security after the blast in Islamabad , when this kind of reverberation from across the border is always possible

This peaceful fishing village at Cuffe Parade on the edge of Mumbai's financial district was the unwitting launching pad for what is being described as India's 9/11. Authorities say a band of gunmen estimated to have numbered up to 25 disembarked onto rubber dinghies from a ship offshore before landing here and dispersing to several locations in the city's south.
Witnesses described the gunmen as young men in their 20s dressed as typical Mumbai youths in jeans and t-shirts. The government alleges they were members of the Lashkar-e-Taiba, a banned Islamist terrorist outfit from Pakistan.
On Wednesday, November 26,the men reached the luxury five-star hotel, the Taj Mahal Palace and Tower, by around 10 pm where they entered through the lightly guarded back entrance, slaughtering a guard and sniffer dog. Within hours the building, a Mumbai landmark, was ablaze. Terror attacks took place in 10 places across Mumbai.Apart from Taj, Hostages were held at Trident hotel, Cama hospital and Nariman house. By day 2 at least 76 dead, 110 were injured.Army was called out in Mumbai. They stormed the Taj hotel and taken position at Trident hotel. Deccan Mujahideen, a very little known outfit claimed responsibility for the attack.Five columns of army, 200 NSG commandos were called to tackle the situation.

Anti-terrorism Squad (ATS) chief Hemant Karkare died after being shot thrice during the combat. The random firing and killing of innocent commuters at the CST was the most heart breaking scene. The guests at the Trident were also held as hostages and many were killed, as one of the survivor described, they shot at anything that moved. The next target was the Nariman house, Colaba. It is a jewish religious center, and the islamic terrorists stormed in there and took the rabbi and his wife as hostages along with other 3 persons present there. All five were killed by them in the end, despite the brave attempt of the NSG commandoes who were para dropped on the building close by.They fought a pitched battle against them at close range.

After 60 hours of fierce battle between the holed up terrorists and the security forces, the siege came to an end. By that time the toll had already risen to 200 and the injured to 900 plus.

Fourteen police officers, including the chief of the anti-terror squad, were among those killed in the attacks. The loss of innocent lives can never be compensated.

The nightmare is over, but the impact will take a long time to subside. Blaming a particular religion is not going to help in anyway, and I think we must find some means to stop the funding of the outfits that train these lads. If we work in that line, taking the Pakisthan also on our side perhaps such tragedy may be averted in future. Hatred breeds more hatred and as we blame the oridinary Muslims, the real culprit under the mask will thrive and slid through. Once the pride of India's financial capital, it is now also a symbol of the failure of its government to take adequate steps to protect its citizens from terrorism.

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Siege and Deluge

27th Nov, a black Thursday..
Woke up to the noise of gunshots, Mumbai under siege..I watched the news that followed in disbelief. Sad, really sad. People been shot randomly, killed just like that, like birds and animals by the hunters. Value of human life is so cheap in our country.
And the star Hotels taken /captured by militants..wahwah..what a security system we have. Amazing. Long live the politicians who runs buses to Pak.
Bless them who soft pedals the issues with the terrorists, fearing the vote bank from the minorities.
I dunno how I can suppress the rage that surges drowning me in emotion.
Drowning, yes Chennai is right now under knee deep water. I am in a deluge. Courtesy cyclone Nisha. I stay in T.Nagar and our street gets clogged for drizzles, then imagine the amount of water thats running at cyclonic condition. when I was a child I remeber seeing something called 'storm drain'. And water will drain through it during rains. Its a big puzzle how can such a big city survive without storm drains.I honestly dont understand why the corporation of Chennai doesnt maintain them. Whatever canals present at some places are either blocked by some construction or filled with rubbish. Kudos to our officers.