Mumbai Under Attack

Update: IBN is also reporting that there has been a seige at the Nariman House, where a Jewish Organization is housed.

While filing a story today at WHYY, I looked up at the TV and saw the Breaking News - "Mumbai Under Attack." Although the details are still coming in, there were machine-gun and grenade attacks at the iconic Taj Hotel, the Leopold Cafe - a popular tourist destination, the luxe Oberoi Hotel, the central Victoria Terminus station and a hospital for women & children. Death toll is said to be around 75 with the number of wounded around 240. Stories like this are devestating because of the loss of life and terrifying because of what the potential implications are.

How are Mumbaikars going to respond? Already the Shiv Sena had already been stirring things up in Mumbai and this incident will very likely get more people on their side. They'll use anything to poison people's minds. Mumbai needs to be prepared for Hindu-Muslim riots. I'm scared. Pakistani President Asif Zardari recently said that India should not feel threatened by Pakistan. What is India's relationship with Pakistan and the rest of the Muslim world going to look like after this? And you can't forget upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

The "what ifs" are always the most upsetting. What if this could have been stopped? After the 2006 bombings on the local trains in Mumbai and after the bombings in Jaipur, Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Delhi, Assam (the list goes on...), there should have been more security. But when I was in Mumbai, people were not required to go through security when entering train stations (and this is true in other major train stations too). When I was at the Gateway to India (right in front of the Taj Hotel, which is in flames as we speak) or staying with a friend at the Oberoi, there was no security. Same with the general Colaba area, which is teeming with people - tourists, street vendors, rich and poor.

I recently saw Slum Dog Millionaire. In that film, Mumbai was like its own character, it took a life of its own. To see what is happening there right now is indescribably painful. You hate to hear about things like this happening anywhere, but it is so different when you have a relationship with a place.

I hope that this is settled really soon and I hope there are no serious consequences.