Remembering 26/11

Its been a year since the country was witness to the horrific events of 26th November 2008 when a group of terrorists ran amok in the City of Mumbai. That 70 odd hours of ordeal is hard to ‘forget’ and ‘forgive’. The whole country came to standstill and people watched ‘terror at its worst’ live for three long days. The memory of those days of horror is still afresh in the minds of millions of Indians who watched those audacious terror attacks. The media frenzy generated could be compared with those generated after the 9/11 attacks.

I vividly remember watching a sports program on TV and switching channels and suddenly stopping at a news channel(guess it was CNN IBN) which was showing footage of the attack. I at first thought that it was the shooting of a new movie and only after a few moments realising that the shooting was real and it was really happening. And what followed he the next 60 hours was something that no movie could ever show. Having lived in Mumbai not long ago i used to have horrific dreams of this at night. And i remembering waking up the next day and walking towards the TV one thing only " is it over yet? is it over yet? Pls god.. Let it be over" And finally it was.. But at what cost..

Lets face it.. Whilst the last commando and the last hostage may have left the scene, and the last burnt tile or broken door been replaced months ago, the truth is Mumbai and the whole of the country will not be over it until we are able to squarely face what happened to us during those three days. What is more confusing is the fact that justice has not been served.

Now it has been a year when Mumbai was shaken, infact the whole country. And when I think of it today I still go numb… I go numb because of the fact that nothing has been done to give justice to the people who lost their lives that day, they are still mourning and hoping for justice. Kasab should have just been hanged without trial to say the least. Even though he was captured and investigations were put forth and a trail was going on, no judgment has been passed yet which makes up question our own judicial system. And the latest we hear is that the government has spent 31 crores for that man. Now that puts a lot of doubt in the minds of the common public.. Pls.. At least for the sake of the thousands of lives that changed after the event, for those brave soldiers and Policemen, For the sake of the country.. Let justice be served...

Once IC-814 took off for Pakistan, the terrorists won the advantage, and eventually achieved their aim of freeing some of the sub-continent's most dangerous men at Kandahar. "Never again", we said hoping that the country would not suffer at the hands of those terrorists again. But Mumbai 26/11 happened. Well This time also we'll say "Never again." But lets hope only this time we mean it..

Saluting those brave Commandos and Policemen who risked their lives for the cause of the country.

Ending my post with a line from a movie
We are resilient by force not by choice – A Wednesday...