I was watching 'The Siege' on TV just a few days ago, and today I feel as if I'm living in it. The city is paralyzed, the armed forces have imposed a curfew in South Bombay and everybody is panicking! G was at the Taj till about 8 last evening, and fortunately, we decided to head home at 9 instead of going to Colaba for dinner. The recent events at Nariman Point are worse than anything we could have imagined. Top cops have been killed including Hemant Karkare, the head of the Anti Terrorism Squad, Vijay Salaskar and Ashok Kamte. Tourist and business locations, including the beloved Leopold cafe, the heritage Taj property and the Oberoi, where most of the financial community passes by every single day, have been targeted.
And the media is having a field day, creating as much sensation as possible. It was really heart wrenching to hear a distraught witness plead with the anchor of an English news channel, asking him to flash on screen that innocents were stuck inside the Oberoi and they needed help. And all that the anchor was bothered about was the body count!
As usual, government officials are mumbling their way through this (Milind Deora seemed coherent, I'll grant him that!), and nobody is offering any reassurances. Much has been said about the legendary resilience of Mumbai and how the city is in shock, but the fact remains that this is no ordinary terrorist attack. Mumbai is under attack and we need a better response than this!
And the media is having a field day, creating as much sensation as possible. It was really heart wrenching to hear a distraught witness plead with the anchor of an English news channel, asking him to flash on screen that innocents were stuck inside the Oberoi and they needed help. And all that the anchor was bothered about was the body count!
As usual, government officials are mumbling their way through this (Milind Deora seemed coherent, I'll grant him that!), and nobody is offering any reassurances. Much has been said about the legendary resilience of Mumbai and how the city is in shock, but the fact remains that this is no ordinary terrorist attack. Mumbai is under attack and we need a better response than this!
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