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ShareThe horror which visited Mumbai on the night of November 26, 2008 kept the city, the country and indeed parts of the world awake for the next three days. The fact of 24-hour news television made the attack, its chilling audacity, its heartless execution and its terrible end all the more real, close, personal and unpalatable. Life goes on is not just a cliché; it is the truth. But the anger that was born on 26/11 still lives within us.
A week after the event, the Gateway of India and the roads around the Taj were filled with almost three and a half lakh people who had swarmed there in a spontaneous uprising against the administration, the government and the politicians who had allowed their country to be invaded in such a shameless manner. Many people misread that anger and felt that it would translate politically. That it did not is testament to a deeper rage that speaks more of despair than cynicism. And yet, we remained calm with each other, displaying a great maturity and resilience.
There will be much public breast-beating today, some genuine, some manufactured for those ever-present television cameras. But it is also true that this remembrance of things past is vital. It helps with the recovery process, it shows respect for those who made immense sacrifices and it sends out a message to the world that this atrocity will not be forgotten.
Of all the various attacks and misfortunes this city has suffered, the events of last November have carved a separate space for themselves in our collective consciousness. The underlying feeling, then and now, is that this was an act of war. Part of the anger was to do with that. These were not nameless, faceless shadows which left bombs behind them or vaporised themselves with them. These were assailants who attacked with military precision. The answers we wanted were from our politicians and those who had sworn to serve and protect us.
The much-acclaimed spirit of Mumbai still carries that simmering rage. The past year has seen, unfortunately, a series of unseemly finger-pointing accusations within the Mumbai police which has not helped the recovery process. On the other hand, the trial of Ajmal Kasab, the lone surviving terrorist has reaffirmed the strength of India's commitment to the Constitution and to the principles of jurisprudence. In that, perhaps, we have demonstrated our greatest strength to the world.
