26/11 is a watershed date in the History of Bombay specifically, India generally and the Indian sub-Continent at large; many would be surprised by my assertion of including the entire Sub-continent as an entity that was scarred by an event which was seemingly perpetrated locally on one specific place within the Sub-continent..... but I do believe that this brazen attack on Bombay will go a long way in asserting itself in the relations the many, different nation-states within this single civilization share in the long run
I am not trying to play the Big Brother here; as has often been the accusation against India by it's neighbours in the sub-continent, nor am I trying to dramatize or over-exert the importance of a localized incident to an entire canvas.... that would be entirely unfair and grossly incorrect but the fact remains that the incidents of that day mark for a change in the structured responses of the area and restructuring and re-alignment of the entire world.
There have been many terrorist attacks in India and beyond India before that eventful day.... it's not as if terrorism in South Asia suddenly made a date with history, or a tryst with destiny on that particular day..... to be precise, even when the entire world was supportive of Jihad (from 1979-1990) and unaware of the course future events would take, even before 9/11 had shattered America out of it's Rip Van Winkle-like slumber and forced it to take a stand against it's own creations, even before the world talked of terror and against Islam, India had witnessed the shattering of innocence, the coming of age, the beginning of the war against a return to medieval mores, way back in March 1993.
But in the beginning, this unruly war had a different echo. The blasts of 1993 and the ones that followed it were divisive and often spoke in terms of Hindu-Muslim relations, Hindu-Muslim animosity, Hindu-Muslim incompatibility on the sub-continent; they positioned themselves as the weapons of vengeance and blamed the demolition of the Babri Masjid and the whirlwind riots that followed the demolition in Bombay, Bhagalpur, Godhra etc as the cause for the blasts...... throughout India, every blast from 1993 to 2008 was just another event that furthered the divisive agenda of hardliners, making rapprochement impossible and strengthened the extremists within both the communities. This hard-lining of positions within communities was exploited successfully by the political parties - the BJP for Hindus and the Samajwaadi Party for the Muslims for growth and power and both these parties and their affiliates grew fat on the blood of the common man. It's true that neither, on prime face value was involved in the blasts, however, each took the resultant paranoia and used it for their own better prospects.....
So what is different about 26/11 that it has to be looked at, from a different angle!
Should it be more important because it was an attack on the nation's economic and financial capital, challenging the economics of the city and creating a feat psychosis in the investment community .... not necessarily, because the first blast on 12/3 was also faced by Bombay, (in fact the BSE, the symbol of India's financial power was one of the premises bombed that day) and it was a more severe and sustained attack on all the symbols of India's financial Strength than 26/11!
Should it be more important since it was a major attack that was sustained continuously for such a long period? Not necessarily .... attacks in Kashmir and the North-East have been continuous and more serious and they have been continuing for a generation or more now ...... and in the heartland of India, the 2008 Jaipur serial Blasts which were followed on consecutive days by the blasts in Ahmedabad and Bangalore were worse in their sustaining impact!
Should it be more important because, it was a direct, open and frontal attack on the concept of India - no, because the December 2001 attacks on the Indian Parliament were the most direct, frontal and open challenge to India's authority and sovereignity
So what was it about the 26/11 that made it different from all the others .... what was it about this attack that made all the difference?
The difference in the 26/11 attacks over the ones that preceded it and the ones that followed it till this time, was the living horror that people of Bombay and India were subjected to, for a period of 72 long hours, continuously .... Every blast till that time had been a matter of quick minutes or as in the case of the Ahmedabad serial bombs, the Jaipur serial bombs or the Mumbai serial train blasts, it was all over in
a few hours.... but this time the horror just went on and on!
Secondly, till this point in time, all the blasts had been targeted at one community or the other, one place or the other, one strata of society or the other, but for the first time on 26/11, the attacks had not been directed at one point itself but was spread out to cause maximal emotional, psychological and physical impact! From the poor migrants who were slaughtered at CST Terminus to the rich, Armani-clad socialites who were trapped in Trident and the Taj to the middle-class who worked in these places or were unfortunate to fall on the radar of the terrorists that fateful night, the event was a dark cataclysm that many have still not been able to move out of..... People who died on that day, did not die on account of their faith, as in the Akshardham attack or the Malegaon Blasts, people who died on that day, died in spite of it!
And the most unfortunate part is that those who did not die, still faced the trauma of having to see this entire drama unfold for the next 72 hours.... 72 helpless hours wherein the entire city that never sleeps was held to ransom, the might of one of the strongest countries on Earth was put to the sword by a bunch of 10 unlettered, illiterate but high on fervour and committed terrorists, and all we could do was to sit before the idiot box and wring our hands in despair and bow our heads in shame!
How could 10 men hold us captive against our wishes for such a long time? How could 10 people make us relive the horror of the moment for such a long period?
The answers are still out there but the mind is still too numb to ask these questions. The trauma is still fresh, the fact that justice has not yet been meted out is still festering in our minds, the collective anger and frustration of the day have been internalized to such an extent that no fair discussion of the event is possible without a recourse to emotional
The only positive from the event was the realization that the bullet of the mercenary had not asked a question of community or religion .... that the Hindu and the Muslim suffered equally.... that the rich and the poor were both susceptible and the only thing that mattered was whether we were are part of the 10 who attacked or the many who defended! And therein was the change made.... the change that made it difficult to impart a name to terrorism as religious or communal.... and that's the reason 26/11 marks a departure from the ones that preceded it and the ones that followed it....
The effect of 26/11 was seen all over the sub-continent.... In Sri Lanka, within 6 months of the incident, the LTTE was destroyed in a ruthless war ... none came to stand for it, none decided to support it.... it was simple, the terrorist word had stuck and stuck mercilessly, no one was in a mood to support any organization that stood for terror, even if it meant ostracizing one's own kith and kin for the same .... Terrorist havens were uprooted in places as diverse as Burma and Bangladesh..... Pakistan had to finally take cognizance of the groundswell in popular opinion and register a case against the perpetrators, though as expected the trail was never as serious as it should have been .....
This could have never happened in 2001, though the attack on Parliament was the attack on India itself..... it happened in Bombay because Bombay, in the minds of people, still maintains a glamour, a position as a city of hope, of dreams and aspirations and what people saw on that day, was a bunch of villains trying to take away the dream... the aspiration! Had it been a clean, surgical attack, it would have been forgotten, relegated to the past but it was a living horror that none would forgive... that none could forgive ... and this is the fire, kindled by tears, blood and sweat that forged the new weapon of unity and belonging that continues to this day
It was 5 AM on November 27, 2008 and I was walking near Flora Fountain, close to Ground Zero, dazed at the battle still being fought, sounds of the war in my mind, sights of broken reporters, shocked citizens, lost policemen and determined army-men around me, anger on my face, tears in my eyes, looking at the sea from where my enemies had arrived to fight against my psyche, my soul..... and my heart said 'NEVER AGAIN'
Two years have passed by, I was still near that place today and my heart said ... NEVER AGAIN..... surprisingly, there was no emotion in my voice, only cold and resolute determination......
