Diehard!

Yesterday was a real adventure day...Or to say how an ordinary day becomes extraordinarily adventurous!!!!!!
First thing in the morning,my roller gets stuck in my hair..So badly that i have to rush to a parlor next door(thankfully next door!) to take it out where two women work for half an hour non stop! After half an hour of excruciating pain, the roller comes out not before sacrificing couple of my lovely silk strands which i am so fond of:(Nd out of some shame i have to get a haircut also in the salon.... I manage to rush home,get ready,start for work and nearly get hit by a truck on the highway(it was trying to overtake from left..luckily i saw it while trying to move left!).....

At work at the end of the day, i end up attending a meeting which was again a nerve wreck... After my release from the meeting i head home and on the way find a colleague trying to get an auto or a cab..I stop, give her a lift only to realise that she has to go to a different destination than mine and that i will have to take a detour on one of the fastest roads in the city!(I am just a three day old driver!) My car stops five times on a traffic signal, i drive painfully slow(20km/hr) on the rightmost lane and somehow manage to get to left lane to drop her at her place..only to get lost in the area with low oil in the fuel tank! Roaming around to find my way i realise i am driving with my headligts off in peak hour!!!!!!!!! People tell me a shortcut to reach my place(which includes crossing a railway line!)......I take the route to halt at the crossing as trains were passing(which happens to be on a slope!)....And worse urchins are jumping around my car least aware that my car slides back when i start on a slope..I scream and ask them to get away from my car...The more i start n stop, the more they flock me! Somehow i manage to push ahead..into winding crowded up and down gliding lanes....And just when i am out of that never ending lane and getting onto main road, a lorry tries to overtake me on the extreme slope.Since applying a brake on 45degrees slope is a question that is completely out of my mind, I do not slow down and the lorry presses onto my backlight! And thats not enough..Those people follow my car, come to my side and make a pass at me, saying stuff..I choose to ignore them..Didn't even give them a look, i have had enough for the day by that time....
After landing at home, i ate a chunk of plum cake and wound up my day by watching Diehard3 !
Today people joked that i must be finding today quite boring and that the person whom i gave a lift yesterday should have watched 'Die another day' last night!

Bravery

Today during lunchtime, one of my senior colleagues mentioned that her daughter and her friend went to Colaba on Sunday and went on the trail of the recent attacks...They walked from Metro cinema to Colaba, went inside the Cafes where shootouts occurred....
I was impressed..I had met her daughter..One normal frail looking girl...But how extraordinary attitude! Am sure most of the youngster in Mumbai have done the same.Been there, visited the same places just after the attacks..To show camraderie and let out the message that 'No one can bring our morale down!'....
Just one day after attacka, when my Mom wouldnt let us go out to work, I could not say anything to her..But my brother quietly explained to her saying"We cant sit at home in fear of anybody'..And it was then that i realised how ordinary people turn into bravehearts when situation arises.Being a sister I was conerned about his well being too, but I couldn't agree more with him..Needless to say I asked mom to let him go out...He even joked that "the post of ATS chief is vacant, so I am going!"
We also had loads of discussion on how thethree senior officers died in the combat..I was of the opinion that it was not good that teh ATS chief lost his life in such a way..My brother said "he is valuable in his death because he did not wait for the entire police force to deal with the situation. He went out the moment he sensed serious situation with whatever manpower he had..Thats what counts.He was a true son of the soil."
I am also planning to go on the trail.I have not been to Leopold Cafe before..But its on my hot list now..One trail is already scheduled on VT station in January...

Terrorism can go to hell..We will turn it into bravery generism.... People also say that the bullet marks are going to be a tourist attraction just like 'Jallianwallah bagh'! Let us see how the attacks boomerang on their perpetrators....

Life after ordeal

Before I write anything, I want to pay homage to al those who lost their lives in the Terror attacks in my city….may their souls rest in Peace… My only wish is that their death is avenged…And that this should never be repeated in the history of this country. In fact any country on this planet.

Mumbai is scarred permanently. And so are the people…You walk down the road, there is some sound and the first reaction is a chill down your spine. People shake up at once. Expecting anything any moment. Quite sad for a city where everyone is busy just rushing to their destination…Four five days after the attacks, trains were still running empty…I for myself am having second thoughts about using public transport. We feel like sitting ducks…No idea from where the next bullet will come to hit us!

My mother is scared.She doesn’t let me go out in the evenings.Doesnt let us spend much time outside home. I very much want to go out, watch movies and hang out. But not without a war at my home.

Am about to travel in train sometimes this New Year. From the same station and platform where the shout out happened and where a live bomb was found in the luggage room! People ask me whether I will be safe traveling alone. (I am a supposedly a well turned out ‘young woman’-again a sitting duck I guess!) I jokingly reply to them I would be fine as long as there are no bombs in the bogie I am in!”

Also now I can empathize more with the Sri Lankans.Now I know what is it like ti live in the shadow of terror. And the mental agony you undergo while it happens around you...Its nerve wrecking..And my nerves are not soothed as yet…