What a week. Like many, I’ve been glued to the TV. The events that took place in Mumbai over the past few days have really shaken and stirred my soul. My family is from India, and over the years, I’ve spent a lot of time in Mumbai, what I consider to be India’s most fascinating and fun city.
The two hotels that were attacked – the Taj and the Oberoi – both hold special meaning for me. The Taj was the venue for a beautiful family wedding a few years ago, and the Oberoi is where my mother bought much of my wedding finery. Just a few years ago, I remember walking with my husband and son along the seascape that fronts the Taj hotel, musing upon its beauty and majesty.
I’ve never, for a moment, felt scared or nervous walking around Mumbai, or any other Indian city for that matter. I’ve taken my kids to India with an open heart, happy to share with them the wonders of my childhood, and the intense rush of life that exists there like it does nowhere else.
The footage of that hotel burning in the wind was devastating. More frightening is what that fire represents – for India and for its Muslim residents. One can only hope that this act of terrorism is contained and addressed without the triggering of communal violence and more suffering.
Suketu Mehta, author of a fantastic book about Mumbai, "Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found", just wrote this fantastic Opinion piece in the New York Times about the recent events. I highly recommend it.
My heart is in India right now – I’m longing to go.
Here is a picture of my husband and I from our last trip there in 2006.
I can imagine it has been tremendously difficult to watch what was happening in Mumbai. It was hard enough for me to see it all transpiring and I simply have no major connection other than a few friends.
I hope the city is able to regroup and find itself again as a place of fascination, culture and peace.
It was all just so horrifying and heart-breaking.
My neighbour was in the Trident-Oberoi during the attacks and was stuck in her room for nearly 3 days eating food from the mini bar and communicating in whatever way she could without leaving her room. She said exactly the same as you Amreen, she NEVER felt anything but safe in India until that moment. She expressed that what happened in Mumbai was a complete tragedy but not at all a reflection of the India she spent the previous month touring or its people.