Thread by @aniruddhadutta

20 years ago, it was around 6 months that I had been in the US for the first time. My morning commute then was taking an @NJTRANSIT train from #Metropark to #NewarkPenn and then the @PATHTrain to #JournalSquare crossing over to another train to finally reach #Newport by 9 AM

On #LabourDay that year I had made my first online purchase - a @KonicaMinoltaUS camera on @eBay. How much I rue not having bought it before the #MemorialDay would come later. From the office on the 22nd floor of the #NewportTower, the #NewYorkSkyline was always breathtaking

On the #MemorialDay weekend that year, some of us friends, all in the US for the first time, went all across #Manhattan. From #TimesSquare to #NYSE and then to the twin towers of the #WorldTradeCenter all without a camera alongwith me. Always thought there will be a next time

That day, it was Tuesday and 8:50 am when I came out of the #Newport @PATHTrain station. The office was just across the road. On the way to the office, had noticed smoke coming out the first tower of the WTC. None whom I asked could mention the reason. Made my way to the office

Number of people gathering close to the window had started increasing. After going through the mails, I got up and joined them. Then that I learnt that it was a plane that had hit the first tower. It was around 9 and we noticed a black plane suddenly dropping elevation

At first, I thought it was a rescue plane but within seconds what I saw will remain etched in my memory forever. The explosion when the plane crashed onto the second tower is a sight that has haunted me for long. Off we rushed going down the stairs with the sirens blowing loud

For the next hour or so, all of us watched in horror the events that unfolded. From across the #NewportWaterfront, what appeared as paper like objects coming down were actually people jumping to their death. And then the first of the tower collapsed completely

One of our friends had a car and we first went to pick up his wife from #ExchangePlace. At the #ExchangePlace waterfront, watched the second Tower collapse. We were 6 of us in the car that day. 4 Indians, a Pakistani and a Bangladeshi making our way back to Edison in the car

I used to spend my weekends then at the South Asian #CommunityRadioStation @ebcradio1170am hosting a #Bengalishow and a #radioquiz. It used to called WCNJ 89.3FM in those days.

That evening, for close to 5 hours, we did a Live CallIn show where anxious families were calling us unable to reach their kin and we were trying to get any update possible from callers. There was joy when we could make people connect.

And when there was bad news, all we could do is to tell families to keep the faith. The show's producer drove me back to my house that night. A week later, mustering the courage, my friend and I went to #NYC. Had my camera with me this time. All I could capture was the debris

There was stench and multiple bits of papers with names written all around. 20 years have gone but these memories still keep coming back, every year. 11th September,2001 has been a day whose story I will take along with me forever.

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