I was very frustrated, especially after the Taj incident and the terror attack. It was so difficult for me to actually come back to normal. I had made myself completely negative and arrogant. Smses were being circulated about the Peace March on 03rd Dec. I decided to take part in it. I wanted to be a part of this event.
My colleagues and I boarded a cab from my office to Gateway. The roads were packed. The traffic was moving very slowly. It was 20 mins that we were in the cab and we had reached only Fountain. While we were on our way I got a call from one of my colleagues from office informing me about the RDX being found at V.T. station. I thought for while, and then took a decision to go ahead with the march. Our taxi somehow crawled near Regal cinema. I could see people walking towards Gateway, with boards in their hands. We got down and started walking with the crowd. The road to go to Gateway was packed with people. People were screaming and shouting slogans like ‘Vande Mataram’, ‘Bristish Rule, Come back’. I could actually see how angry and frustrated the common man was with the system. We held on to each other as there were chances of getting lost in the crowd and not meeting again. Mobile networks were down. More and more people were joining in. Everyone knew about the bomb which was found at CST station but this time people were too busy to be bothered. They kept saying that ‘We would rather die here in the march than die while dining with our family…;
I finally reached my destination. The Taj which I had only been watching on television. We were not allowed to go close to the Taj. There was a rope which was like the LOC which we were not supposed to cross. I held on to the rope and looked at the TAJ .
One side of the rope was me and the mad crowd behind me and on the other side was the TAJ, the policemen, the NSG commandos and silence. It was terrible. As I stood there with tears in my eyes, I could feel someone crying.. It was the TAJ. It was crying bitterly, Saying “See what they did to me,. they burnt me, they broke my windows, my dome is damaged completely, they killed my children , there’s only blood everywhere…’
I was speechless. I just could not stop my tears. I could not do anything to save my Taj.
I was interrupted by the crowd who had now started shouting,
“ Hemant Karkare Zindabad,
Vijay Salaskar Zindabad,
Unnikrishna Zindabad,
Ashok Kamte Zindabad”
I looked up at the sky. I could feel them. They were listening to us. They were all there, in that silence. As I walked alongside the rope to return the crowd started screaming “Police force Zindabad, NSG commandos Zindabad” I shook hands with the NSG commando standing there and gave him a salute and thanked him for being there.
For the first time I was a part of such a big event .They predicted 10,000 people and a crowd of 5 lakh turned up! Everyone was only talking ill against the politicians. They were so agitated, so angry. Everyone had only one question “What is the use of the govt?”
Why should we vote when we know that which ever party will come to power will not able to fight against terrorism?
Reconstruction has started at the TAJ, and the Oberoi, stations have been beefed up with high security, peace march is over, life is slowly coming back to normal.
- The politicians may forget 26Nov 2008, but we will never allow them to forget.
My colleagues and I boarded a cab from my office to Gateway. The roads were packed. The traffic was moving very slowly. It was 20 mins that we were in the cab and we had reached only Fountain. While we were on our way I got a call from one of my colleagues from office informing me about the RDX being found at V.T. station. I thought for while, and then took a decision to go ahead with the march. Our taxi somehow crawled near Regal cinema. I could see people walking towards Gateway, with boards in their hands. We got down and started walking with the crowd. The road to go to Gateway was packed with people. People were screaming and shouting slogans like ‘Vande Mataram’, ‘Bristish Rule, Come back’. I could actually see how angry and frustrated the common man was with the system. We held on to each other as there were chances of getting lost in the crowd and not meeting again. Mobile networks were down. More and more people were joining in. Everyone knew about the bomb which was found at CST station but this time people were too busy to be bothered. They kept saying that ‘We would rather die here in the march than die while dining with our family…;
I finally reached my destination. The Taj which I had only been watching on television. We were not allowed to go close to the Taj. There was a rope which was like the LOC which we were not supposed to cross. I held on to the rope and looked at the TAJ .
One side of the rope was me and the mad crowd behind me and on the other side was the TAJ, the policemen, the NSG commandos and silence. It was terrible. As I stood there with tears in my eyes, I could feel someone crying.. It was the TAJ. It was crying bitterly, Saying “See what they did to me,. they burnt me, they broke my windows, my dome is damaged completely, they killed my children , there’s only blood everywhere…’
I was speechless. I just could not stop my tears. I could not do anything to save my Taj.
I was interrupted by the crowd who had now started shouting,
“ Hemant Karkare Zindabad,
Vijay Salaskar Zindabad,
Unnikrishna Zindabad,
Ashok Kamte Zindabad”
I looked up at the sky. I could feel them. They were listening to us. They were all there, in that silence. As I walked alongside the rope to return the crowd started screaming “Police force Zindabad, NSG commandos Zindabad” I shook hands with the NSG commando standing there and gave him a salute and thanked him for being there.
For the first time I was a part of such a big event .They predicted 10,000 people and a crowd of 5 lakh turned up! Everyone was only talking ill against the politicians. They were so agitated, so angry. Everyone had only one question “What is the use of the govt?”
Why should we vote when we know that which ever party will come to power will not able to fight against terrorism?
Reconstruction has started at the TAJ, and the Oberoi, stations have been beefed up with high security, peace march is over, life is slowly coming back to normal.
- The politicians may forget 26Nov 2008, but we will never allow them to forget.
2 comments:
Strong feelings! Very well written Sapna.
hey sapu,toooo good!!! i enjoyed reading every single line. u keep writing n il keep reading!!!
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