As of this moment, news reports tell the gruesome story in statistics:-
1) 183 dead, probably more to go
2) 327 injured, again the number expected to rise
3) 9 Terrorists killed, 2 captured alive, the others unaccounted for as of now
4) 1 NSG commando dead adding to the total militia casualties (The number is yet to be disclosed)
5) Material damage: My guess is billions of US $
6) Physical & mental trauma: Priceless, but not in the good sense of the word
I have been seeing the news channels since thursday morning, can't seem to stay away from it.. NDTV 24x7, CNN IBN, Times Now, Headlines Today have all done a remarkable job of covering the incident from all possible angles and CNN & BBC World gives the international perspective. All of them have shown remarkable maturity by not hounding the freed hostages (Well atleast not a lot) and not revealing the military tactical operations details on tv lest the terrorists be informed of it. All of them also have showered praise on the armed forces while the other side of the coin shows them all blaming the lack of a proper security/Intelligence service and also the politicians as always!
Speaking of politicians I quote Dr Prannoy Roy of NDTV here: "Just when the people of Mumbai, infact the entire nation, has been pleading for a sense of solidarity from our leaders; Just as we all want the politicians to show us a united front, they cant even do that! Prime minister Manmohan Singh and leader of opposition LK Advani were supposed to travel to Mumbai together and they couldnt even do that!"
Need I say more? The blame game and petty politics is on: Narendra Modi, the CM of Gujarat, has announced a total reward of rs1 crore for the families of the deceased armed force members who perished a hero's death in the last 3 days.. The Maharashtra CM, Mr Vilasrao Deshmukh, has "claims" of ISI behind it and the state thus cant take responsibility for the national scheme of investigation. Or how about the sms running around the nation (I too got it 3 times) asking where now is Raj Thackeray and his anti-aliens agenda when the NSG made up mainly south Indians and north Indians helped the mumbaikars? The words I heard most were though: "
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH"!
And I share that sentiment too, my friends can't help talking of what would happen if a similar incident were to happen here.. They are just as quick to dismiss it as a possibility given the comparatively small status of the city in international circles but I ask you: Did those parsi's and jews expect an attack on Nariman House? Did those foreign tourists coming here to have a good time out want this as a part of their itenary? Did all those families finding themselves short a few loved members think "Kashmir is far away, we are safe" when they saw those countless news reports of militants claiming lives in the far north? I ask what Barkha Dutt and Harsha Bhogle spoke of while talking for the millions of voices across the nation asking the same thing: "Why are Indians expected to be resilient and bounce back after each such instance? Are we not to expect a free life to live in India?"
There was this interview in Times Now yesterday night with the Pakistan Foriegn Minister on his statement to counter the mass speculation based on some evidence collected so far (I shall not speculate as yet for the operation is not complete so more evidence may be collected showing a clearer picture).. 4 other people were making him sweat but to his credit, he maintained a straight and calm face throughout the multi-pronged attack. I will not post the link to the interview for it is simply too biased for now..
As far as the terrorist operations go, an "expert" on 9x news proclaimed the use of
Sleeping Gas on the terrorists/hostages.. May I point out to the so-called expert that "Sleeping Gas" is a fictional work in movies/books and that any real life substituents like Halothan or Neothyl have lots of side effects & the main "Sleep inducing" effect only occurs at near toxic concentrations? And how about the claim of using Thermal vision glasses to see where the people are? OMG ARE YOU PEOPLE RETARDED?? There is a bloody fire in the building and the entire place is hot at about 150 degree C, you want to see humans based on their body heat of ~38 C?? Gimme a break!
There was also a magic moment where a certain news channel told of a possible 2nd firing at CTS railway station leading to a mass panic before apologising for the false rumour but the icing on the cake was taken by another news network proclaiming to have live contact with the terrorists themselves: THEIR IQ MUST BE LESSER THAN THEIR AGES!!
But I cant blame them totally, this incident has shocked us all out of a lazy delirium of non-chalance! Hey I myself spent the last 2 nights devising ways to identify terrorists and later, to escape alive if I was a terrorist.. I shall not mention any of them for though most have have loop-holes, a few in my opinion atleast I thought were pretty ingenious to actually work (Huge ego perhaps, but not taking any chances!)
Now we are nearly at 64 hours of operation, the NSG is finishing its sanitisation of the Taj Mahal (Not the monument, the hotel you retard!) and the final report is due soon.. I shudder to hear the final list of casualties but the incident is far from over. Representives from all around the world are ready to swoop down on India to help "assist" the investigation but I say its all to clear their names and to show their citizens that they atleast are concerned about their citizens.. Sad that the entire nation is screaming for blood now, I just hope no vendetta missions occur just as an after-thought! If any foreign nation is proven guilty then by hell and brim-rock we shall not rest till justice is served well-done on the dinner platter.. Amen to that!
A glimpse of Gokul in the mirror and I was handling the camera obs.. Shiva was, well, getting his favourite music CD on the player!
