The time Bombay went into a coma

60 hours… This time the ordeal lasted for 60 hours, rather than the few minutes a blast usually takes, or a couple of hours at most for a series of blasts to take place. This time, nothing was the same. The last time I ever remember seeing armed forces entering Bombay, covered in protective armour, with weapons was during the riots in ‘93, and even that was in no way similar to what happened now. 

When it started at around 10 p.m. on November 26, 2008... with reports of shooting at café Leopold, my first reaction was, ‘Who are these idiots now?’ I thought it was someone acting stupid for whatever reason. When the news said there was shooting at different locations in south Bombay, I thought it was some sort of a gang war. In hindsight, I almost wish it were. For even the underworld has enough integrity to only kill people they need to and not masses in general. When the news claimed it were terrorists, I dint want to believe it. I guess when Hemant Karkare, Vijay Salaskar, Ashok Kaamte or the cops who lost their lives in the initial phase, went in with no or little protective gear, they thought the same. The entire video that shows the final moments of Mr. Krakare’s life on camera shows his body language depicting the same. He arrived at the scene, and his body language suggested, ‘Let’s get this over with’. In fact it seemed as though he were ready to go in without the ill fitting helmet and bullet proof jacket. He seemed sure of what he was doing, and probably thought the fastest way to end the situation would be to lead from the front. But he and everyone else had grossly underestimated the terrorists. The situation went from bad to worse soon enough. The cops looked lost as they learnt of the loss of their top officials. 2 terrorist managed to escape with a police vehicle, shot at bystanders, abandoned the vehicle, took over another car and tried to make their way through the city before being intercepted and killed. (1 killed, 1 arrested as it was later confirmed). Everyone was in a state of panic as to what was happening. This being something that was never experienced before anywhere in the country, except for Kashmir. 

Even as a nation watched, marine commandoes were called in along with the national security guard. When they arrived and chalked out a plan for whatever they were going to do, I finally decided to go to sleep since I had to go to work the next day. It was around 3.00 a.m. the next day. I went to sleep with 2 thoughts. It was only a matter of a couple of hours now before it all got fine and a truly selfish thought, praying for my city to be okay. I woke the next morning to the incessant sound of my mobile that had been buzzing for around half an hour with the alarm ringing and calls and messages. One message got through my befuddled and sleepy mind: do not leave for work today. I put on the TV to discover that contrary to my belief, the ordeal was not even close to over, in fact in a way had worsened. The sight of fires breaking out at the Taj and the explosions, hurt, coz everyone knows how iconic that structure is.  The entire day I was glued to the television, like no doubt every other Bombayite was. This was a whole new form of terror. It wasn’t just a faceless terrorist who came and blasted himself and others up. This was old fashioned face to face warfare. The day carried on with progress and losses, it kept shuffling back and forth. Rescued people were being brought out, as were bodies. Figures were rising sharply. The media for once was doing the best job they could, bringing as much information as possible uninterrupted (at least 2 channels had been broadcasting with no breaks for the entire duration) without hyping things, giving out unconfirmed reports, or getting sound bytes from every man and his dog. The day ended on the same unsure note, with no definite news on how safe the city was. Another night of going to sleep with the hope that all would be well by morning. 

In the morning as I got ready to go to work, TV screen flashed visuals of black cat commandoes being dropped down from helicopters onto Nariman house, one of the main locations. The entire scene looked right out of a movie, with them being gracefully dropped, them moving stealthily into the building and the chopper taking off. The atmosphere in the normally quite cheerful and bustling office was quite subdued, conversations at every table in the cafeteria, seemed to be centered on the incident. The day passed with everyone checking websites for news ever so often or going to the cafeteria to catch up on the updates. A few rumors did the rounds of the city and peoples phones would start buzzing with families and friends calling up to confirm if all was well. As the day ended, everyone rushed home to once again get in front of the TV sets and wait and watch what happened next. The Oberoi and the Nariman house had been cleared, the battle at the Taj was still on. Incessant gun fire and explosions continued, as did the occasional burst of flames from some windows, the fire fighters tackling with each of them from the outside, as the commandoes dealt with the situation inside. 

By night, the commandoes from the Nariman house had been moved to the Taj to help in here. Night saw no real change in the scheme of things as it were. Only at around 7:30 this morning, on 29^Th November, when a body of a terrorist was pushed out of a window and shortly after, when the room itself went up in flames, did the official reports of the ordeal being finally over come in. a city started to breathe again. Shortly after, the situation was safe enough for reporters to go close enough to the building to get images from within. The army has been extremely brilliant in dealing with the event in an impeccable manner, moving cautiously enough to avoid as many causalities as possible and still relentlessly going after the terrorists to put them down. The cops did their best in helping the commandoes by not letting people interfere from outside and will hopefully continue doing the best in helping with the investigations provided they aren’t troubled with too much interference. 

I’ve never known Bombay like this. Scared, shocked, in such a state of panic. Neither has it ever been so quiet except for the sounds of gunfire and explosions for over 2 days. The city is once more back to what is was, although the people aren’t, nor are some of the best structures in the city. With no idea as to what the future holds, here’s hoping this is not another incident that goes forgotten over time, and we learn from this and move ahead to a better city and country.