28th November 2008.... Reactions

The day after i.e. 27th Nov 2008, many people preferred to stay home. Some companies were officially closed while many companies were open with less attendence. Most banks were open all days, including the Fort branches.

But on 28th Nov, 2008 when I stood at the station to board the train to office, there was crowd as usual. Most people were expecting a less crowd. But it was no so. And everyone was talking, commenting about the previous two days events. The operation at Taj was still on.

One man to another : ''Kuch bhi kaho... woh logon ne perfect planning ki thi. Maanna padega. Ab pakadkar kar kya fayda. Unhonhe toh apna target complete kar liya". (They had done perfect planning. What's the use of catching them now. They've completed their target.)

Other man : "Heard that one of the terrorists worked at the Taj for a few months. That's why they knew the place so well."

First man : "Tu kal office gaya tha? Main toh jaata. Lekin mera office Opera House side hai. Isliye ghar waale jaane nahin diye" (Did you go to office? I would've gone, but my office is near Opera House, so family members didn't allow me to go.)

After getting into Ladies compartment, more comments were heard within... more daring and questionable.

One lady : Its really sad. But how come there was no security at the sea?

Second lady : Now they've increased security.

First lady : Now what's the use? Always they do afterwards. Even after blasts. They'll become strict for 15 days or so, then back to usual.

Second lady : Yeah. And they came from Gujarat. What was Modi doing?

Other set of females discussing.

One lady : Now where is MNS? Why didn't they come forward to save their land?

Other lady: Yes, when Mumbai needed them, they were nowhere to be seen.

First lady: In fact, today we ladies are going to office. But one boy, who supports MNS, said he can't come. I told him problem is in South Mumbai and now its nearly over. But he replied that how could he take risk. And his family is also not allowing.

Another lady: Now they had to call people from outside to save Mumbai. It was sad how they beat up the candidates who came for Railway Exam.

One more lady joins in : Now if they really do something to save Mumbai or show how much they care, we'll all join MNS. And giggles

Another lady : How they took all that stuff inside Taj and Oberoi? Some insider might be involved

Another two ladies were discussing behind me.

One Lady: Now they'll blame Congress

Second Lady : As if nothing would've happened if anyone else was there.

There were emails and smses floating around -

''Where are the Sainiks? The NSG commandoes who came to save Mumbai were all Non Maharashtrians'' and it went on...

Some were blaming the present government for their failure. And urging people to vote them out.

Some urged people to protest on 29th Nov (Sat) by wearing black bands on wrist or forehead.

I chose not to forward such mails/ smses, which were more in political interests and more of a mockery of the entire situation. We could deal with them later, when the entire operation was over.

In Office.

We were reeling under work pressure. So no time to discuss much except how we reached home. In between there was an alarm regarding some fresh firing followed by news of all TV channels being asked to shut down.

One of my colleagues : Jeeturaaj knows better. I've been following his program throughout the incident yesterday. Today he's going to be on air full day.

Another female colleague : Yeah, I also hear his program for updates. I'd called him yesterday to tell him our office was working, but told him women were excused.

Just then first colleague takes out his FM receiver and tunes in. He hears for few minutes and declares that fresh firing thing was a rumour.

I was surprised to hear about Jeeturaaj's popularity.

He calls his home also and then says some channel spread the rumour and thats why they were asked to shut down.

And everyone seemed angry after they heard this.

After a while, they was more news (a rumour) that the terrorists were moving towards RBI. And suddenly many offices/ branches of companies / banks were asked to exercise caution and leave early. Since we were in the suburbs, it didn't affect us much. We continued with our work.

After that there wasn't much news except some news updates from people's homes. We got information that the attackers were watching TV inside and using satellite phones and were fully updated on what's happening outside. They were said to be muching tandoori chicken.

Someone wondered how they got all that stuff inside. I reminded them that Taj also has a kitchen and might have a storage there. Some agreed. Some didn't and insisted they carried it inside.

Then we were all engrossed in our work and the day passed on as usual.