At the time of writing this, the Taj Mahal Hotel has been “sanitised” of terrorists but it will still be a while before the city fully comes to terms with the insanity of the past 72 hours.
I have grown up in and around Colaba. My home and office have been barely half a kilometre from the Taj and my fondest memories of Mumbai are inevitably linked to this area.
Initially, whenever a calamity struck the city, South Bombay seemed an insulated womb where we felt safe and secure as we watched tragedy unfold in different parts of our metropolis. During the 1993 riots as most of Bombay burned we were protected from the carnage as the army staged flag marches around our area and instilled much needed confidence in the Muslim residents that we would not be harmed.
A Hindu friend ironically found refuge at our place in Cuffe Parade when he could not get home to Bandra for a week. In fact many families we know were advised to check in to the Taj and Oberoi Hotels during the riots as they could be assured of safety there.
It seemed that even the Gods smiled benevolently on this area and whilst the rest of the city was submerged during the great deluge of July 2005, South Bombay remained inexplicably dry.
On two occasions, I have been less than 500 metres away when bombs detonated at the Air India building and the Gateway of India but somehow I still never felt a vulnerable target in this city. As I type this, I am inundated with calls, emails and messages updating me of numerous friends and acquaintances that were randomly and senselessly killed at the Taj and Oberoi. I know a majority of South Mumbaikars are thinking the same thing at this point — “This could so easily have been my family and me.”
This attack has brought home the chilling truth that no one is truly safe in this city anymore — regardless of religion, affluence or address. Whether in a taxi headed to the airport, catching a train at CST, drinking beer at a dive bar in Colaba or over a Sushi meal at Wasabi — we are all equally vulnerable to indiscriminate acts of terrorism.
What is imperative at this juncture is that we all unite and fight — not just the terrorists but also the politicians who will now try and milk this moment for their own perverse benefit.
Politicians whether they are right-wing fundamentalists or pseudo-secularists are as much a clear and present danger to our city as Al Qaeda and the Deccan Mujahidin. An SMS I have just received states, “The politicians have gagged our intelligence agencies, dismembered our police force, destroyed the secular fabric of our city for private self and public power — we have all been reduced to a number in a vote bank”.
Let us channelise our collective anger wisely and well and neutralise these civic terrorists who want to prey on our fears, prejudices and insecurities. To be truly safe and secure we must first vanquish the terror within.
fahad@dnaindia.net
