Last evening around 6:30 pm Mumbai time,7 blasts ripped through 7 different local trains on the western Railway Line in Mumbai killing over 147 people and injuring scores of others. The news was heartbreaking. Mumbai is my hometown. I have lived most of my life in kuwait but i stayed in Mumbai for 10 years between 1990 and 2000. It is my Home city and i love it. Yesterdays news is in a series of bad news coming out of Mumbai recently. First there were floods due to the incessant rains, then came the rioting by the Shiv Sena party (another bunch of fanatics who care less about any good for others), and now the very sad news of the bomb blasts. The Local railway is the lifeline of the residents of Mumbai. Over a million people use the railways daily to commute to and fro their work places. The bomb blasts was a clear indication to totally disrupt the life of the commuters and cause maximum damage as all the bombs went off in the local trains packed to capacity in the rush of people returning home. This senseless violence raises many questions about the safety of the city, the ease with which the terrorists can cripple a great city like mumbai and also the future planning of a city that is growing ever more so by each day.
I will not comment on the issues of the government stopping these attacks as i will leave that for a later blog. But what i want to highlight here is what we can do to make sure Bombay is not crippled by any one incident. Mumbai is a city inhabited by a very resolute and strong hearted population. Nothing keeps them down. They are back on their feet immediately after. Yesterday scores of people were offering rides to stranded people in their cars, on the motorcycles, autorickshaws making sure they can do whatever they can to help the situation. Poor people from slums and people from houses near the main roads all came on the streets offering water and food to the people who had no choice but to walk kilometers to their homes. This act by the Mumbaiites just goes to show the heart of the city bonded by a single feeling of helping the city in times of crisis. This is the kind of emotions that makes, and will continue to make, Mumbai the best city in the word to live in. People have to, in time, bring out these feelings everyday to make sure that they always think of the future of the city. crisis times like yesterday and last years major flooding of Mumbai goes to show the firm commitment of the city folks to their city and its people. It is this feeling of loyalty, belonging and caring for their brethren that will help raise Mumbai out of its problems. The people have to rise above divisions of caste, religion, political alliance and come together for something that binds them all together – MUMBAI. Mumbai should become the driving force for all its residents to fight these forces of terror and make sure that none of these attacks will dent their resolve or create tensions over religious lines. We Mumbaiites have to realise that the ploy of the terrorists is to disrupt the life of the common man and as a result create tensions in the city and as a result affect the economy. WE WILL NOT ALLOW THAT TO HAPPEN. We are much stronger than them. They are a bunch of cowards killing innocent people. They do not care about religion or honour or even innocent lives. They are mercenaries carrying out an agenda laid out by the forces that have Ulterior Motives in creating chaos among the people. The people who died in the blasts were not Hindus, Muslims, Christians etc. They were MUMBAIITES. No news channel ever reported that so many Hindus or so many Muslims or Christians were killed. People who died were the blood of Mumbai. We should always keep that in mind. People die, the family grieves. Our family is Mumbai city. We need to stand together in these times and show those cowards that Mumbai will NOT bow down to them. We have to continue our fight against ALL that try to harm the city and its people. We, as one family only, can counter these attacks. Let us show the terrorists that we will not cower and hide. We will stand together and will continue to do so in any adversity. The terrorists should know that we are together in the fight against them and they will NEVER WIN. This is the best way to discourage the cowards that attack innocents. Security, Govt intelligence, etc can do only so much to prevent such attacks. Even highly advanced countries like USA and UK with their detailed intelligence and advanced security systems could not prevent such attacks. But what can discourage such attacks is the resolve and the courage of the city’s people in wake of such tragedies. We, The people, only can stop this. Let us all stand up together to fight the fanatics and the Terrorists that attempt to harm our city. Let us all stand up and fight against the communal forces and the politicians that force the city to be divided on communal lines. Let us stand up and fight for MUMBAI – our city and our home.
Things were going smooth till the time we heard about the blast at evening 6:30. We were working in office and suddenly the everybody’s mood changed, people in office were looking tensed and panic. They were trying to contact their loveones. As all the tele lines were nonfunctioning it adds a spice to te panicness. The next 2 hours (till 8:30) were super panic moments for all of us. We were getting the news of more blasts in the city.
We took a decision to stay at office for some time, we had dinner together and then I left all the female employees to their doorsteps, I was bit tensed but was not showing to my collegeous. They were looking forward to me for support.
I was just parying that the mob should keep its cool. People were helping everybody (unkowns) on the roads. On one side its really sad and terrified incidence but on other side I could see the enthusism of people in the city, the helping nature and co-operation of people.
They were not waiting for the local authority to react on situations, they are of their own and trying their best to take out injured and sending them to the hospital through their private vehicles. I saw a person who was injured and his shirt was colored with his blood, but he was worried about the commutters who were injured.
No where in the world you can see this. Some news servey recently announced that Mumbai is the rudest city in the world, but I think they will change their statement after this.
The local trasporatation – BEST, arranged 150 additional buses from Andheri to Borivali and 350 Busus to other places. The whole westurn railway was stopped only central and harbour were running but with precautionary steps.
The situation was almost to its normalcy in 2-3 hours, one day after the blast the city seems to normal and absorbed the whole shock of blast. We all are very sorry about the families who has lost their loveones in this incidence.
I can realised that – Nobody can stop us running the things smoothly. I think this is best slapped on terrosist face that we are normal.
Mumbai Rich class reaction
Yesterday when I heard about the Bomb blasts in Mumbai – one of my friend is from Mumbai (Rich from Mumbai who lives in London – mumbai). I thought I will tell him about the Bomb blast. His reaction was – My family and friends never travels in the public transport (not even first class) and they never goes to those poor areas and said those are the poor people who died. when I said – It happens in first class carriage as well – his reply was – the people who travel in first class they are poor as well and said that anyone can afford first class ticket in India.
I was so socked and said myself you bloody selfish ba*tard (after all I believe -everyone is same -poor or rich in my religion) and I so disappointed by his remarks and I said to myself why I bother to tell him.
So guys in my opinion – all the leaders and rich people they are not going to do anything for you (ordinary people).
To Muslim terrorists: Please kill the rich ba*tards and politicians in Mumbai – don’t kill the inocent people.
British Indian Sikh : Please refrain from generalising the term Muslim terrorists. Its a very sad term coined. Terrorists are terrorists. they donot belong to a religion. I never heard the spanish Govt ever calling the Basque militants as religious militants or the the same for the IRA in England. Islam is a religion of peace and the people who use the name of islam in dastardly acts donot follow the religion and cannot be associated with it either. And further more why kill anybody. The politicians death should be in the hands of the people. We can kill the politicians by NOT electing them. I agree with your post about everybody being equal. thats the point of the blog article. People who talk like that dont have any “Insaaniyat”, as we say in Hindi. And without that its just an empty shell of a human.
[...] Da Beam, who lives in Kuwait, urges people to stand up and city that he once called home. “Let us stand up and fight for MUMBAI – our city and our home.” [...]