11 years after #26/11 #MumbaiTerrorAttack the days & months after are forever etched in my memory. Many things shall go unsaid but share some thoughts, what can be shared. Walked into my home to hear of some terror attack & a senior cop killed & the visuals filled the TV. My 1st
reaction was - that isnt a bullet proof jacket. Technically it was maybe but it didnt stand a chance to protect against modern weapons. The bullets would go through like knife through butter. Even as I watched got a call - did we supply those jackets? No. Cops fighting with no
protection, can you arrange for free supplies? Thanks to @RNTata2000 & his large heart we supplied free protective gear for the next 72 hrs loading stuff on every flight to #Mumbai Airlines refused to accept money. My team was running around in the midst of the chaos till a DCP
called me & said just reach airport & we will take care of the rest. Watched in horror as irresponsible TV anchors were behaving like children screaming & shouting as if it were the latest fight scene in a Amitabh or Shahrukh movie little realising that it was for real & these
idiots were actually giving away information to the terror handlers. Even some men in uniform decided to bask in the media spotlight & it was a terrible attack that had gone even more wrong by a voyeuristic nation. Be that as it may in the days after the attack I was at ground
zero. I walked into the central atrium under the famed globe of the #TajPalace hotel & into the corridors & rooms blackened after the fire had burnt millions of dollars of precious artefacts, paintings. But above all to stand & feel that fellow human beings, children actually
stood in terror in these rooms as they were burnt alive, the reactions of the parents, the reaction of couples about each other, the thoughts of the solo guest as he/she remembered their family. Those who were shot probably died a merciful death. The feeling was overwhelming &
even today tears come as I look back. Even today 11 yrs later everytime I go to Mumbai & near that area I make it a point to drop in & stand under that atrium, see the water fall with all names of the dead etched. Its like a pilgrimage & all becoz I worked for the group then &
so got involved peripherally. I wonder if I with a peripheral link can feel like this, what do those who actually suffered feel? Getting involved in some work at the hotel I went to lunch one day only to see Mr. Kang sitting at the next table. I could not longer eat or even do
anything. After all what can one do when seeing a man who was the GM of the hotel, was standing outside watching his wife & children getting burnt alive even as he helped the commandos find their way through the maze of corridors. I retraced the steps the terrorists had taken
& realised that till that fateful day how trusting & simple we were as human beings towards others. It was open house where suppliers, staff, friends walked in & out & from that day till now even guests cant enter without being frisked, checked & searched. If #9/11 changed #USA
26/11 changed India. The subsequent response of the @TataCompanies @RNTata2000 in the way they cared for the dead employees, their families, putting up a memorial that every guest could see in the main lobby, the response to thank those who fought for them - no words can describe
The anger felt at what was happening & what had happened is only calmed by that scene in the end where a terrorist was flung threw the window by a angry commando like in a movie action scene. My long time local taxi driver spoke of how his friend & fellow muslim actually ferried
a passenger to the airport without realising that a bomb had been placed in his taxi by terrorists who had used him earlier in the day. The passenger got out, the taxi blew up killing the driver. Another friend sat for dinner at the Taj that day only to be whisked away by another
to eat at a "local" joint instead of a star hotel & even before they had ordered food got a call saying the hotel had been attacked. He escaped death literally by minutes. While a full post mortem report of the attack & how every SOP was probably flouted by everybody concerned
may not be public I do hope that it has been made & SOP's put in place for future. Setting up a fancy #NSG & infra isn't sufficient because a terror attack doesn't happen everyday to test your operational preparedness. Even mock drills are focused on the muscle power. We in India
invariably tend to forget the soft skills. Every guest rescued that day should have been rounded up, quarantined till they were debriefed. News is that the terror support team fled as guests when the attack began. The media esp TV should have been removed far away from the scene
to hell with freedom of the press becoz on that day they only misused that freedom. If I sitting miles away watching TV could scream in frustration that real time TV is bad strategy, not one of the rich, famous, experienced, celebrity TV anchors seemed to notice it. While we can
applaud those who fought fact is that they didn't have a plane to fly down immediately, those who were next door could not be given the leadership to storm the place before the terrorists had taken over the place, cops did not have modern protection, senior cops traveled jointly
in a single vehicle, guests not debriefed, no plans of the hotel readily available to guide the security forces etc. Talk to a experienced counter terror expert & they will make you think we failed at every stage. In between the politicking made a country sick to the stomach.
But for the audacious bravery of #TukaramOmble a terrorist was caught alive & if not the likes of #digvijaysingh would have given this thing a spin that would have divided this country beyond hope. They still tried to do it later. We must #NeverForget #NeverForgive & #NeverAgain
