26/11-A Night of Terror..!

Rat-a tat-tat-tat-tat-tat, went the machine guns of the terrorists!
On that Night of Terror eleven years ago, I was just a few feet away from the deadly carnage that killed hundreds!
The Press Club where I was spending that evening and finally the whole night, along with the Editor of the Trinity Mirror is situated a few hundred feet from both the CST station where innocents were mercilessly gunned down, and the Madam Cama hospital where others were ruthlessly shot point blank that night, and a kilometer from the Taj Hotel where mass executions took place. As gunshots receded, we heard the sound of the lone jeep which sped down the road outside, and which carried the three brave officers who became lifeless bodies in a few minutes.
I saw photographers running in, unloading ghastly pictures of the bloodied railway station, were terrified men, women and children, in crouching positions, behind sad, pathetic remnants of their baggage were mowed down by the machine guns of Kasab and his accomplice.
I was hardly a few feet away, and it was only providence that did not allow these terrorists from walking towards the bright lit Mumbai Press Club, where we would have all been sitting ducks.
But I believe there’s a reason we scribes were spared; and that was to tell the world, “Never Again!”
Never again should such carnage take place, where both poor and wealthy were targeted and killed, even as they looked at their bloodied selves with lifeless eyes, asking ‘Why?”
Yes why? What made Kasab and gang willing to sail stormy seas, risk their lives from Navy and Coast Guard, strut through strangers and walk fearlessly into four different locations to kill, and be killed?
Why? Well, evidence gathered, shows they had been fed with scenes of atrocities and conditioned to believe that injustice of a high magnitude was being inflicted on their community in our country. In their minds, they repaid hate with hate. And that is how terrorism thrives; on wheels of hate!
Those wheels seem to be turning again. With no thought of the damage this can do to our nation, hate is being used as a tool to win elections. Anger, harnessed to create the right atmosphere for violence, and with violence comes injustice as we are beginning to see.
I was hardly a few feet away when the carnage took place. Why, were we spared? I believe, to warn the nation today not to give terror a reason to thrive in our country with more innocents losing life, limb and loved ones!
You can stop it! By not listening to messages of animosity, and by learning to speak and act without hurting others who do not worship as you do!
Lifeless eyes, from the Taj, CST station, Leopold Café and the Jewish House, plead silently, “Not Again..!”

******************************************

IF YOU WANT TO RECEIVE BOB’S BANTER EVERYDAY, PLEASE SEND YOUR NAME AND WHATSAPP PHONE NO TO [email protected]

*****************************************

5 thoughts on “26/11-A Night of Terror..!”

  1. Amen. Not again. Help us, dear God through Civic Consciousness, Wisdom n Awareness to teach generations to come through education, literature, media, dramas n Enlightening Blessed Banters to ensure it’s NOT AGAIN !

  2. Thank you for sharing this with us. My deepest sympathy to all relatives and friends who lost their loved ones on that day. I pray that in his compassion God comforts your grieving hearts and fill you with his peace. Amen.

  3. thanks Bob….yes a reminder that such should ‘never again’ be allowed to play in our country – even while I see it all around in shades that have changed but the underlying can be the same?

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *