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A huge hoarding stood at the entrance to the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST) railway station, carrying pictures of the fallen heroes of the 26/11 Mumbai carnage.
The entrance of the iconic station, which is often a sea of humanity, wore a sombre look on Monday with some people stopping by to pay their silent tributes.
The hoarding carried small pictures of 18 soldiers, both from the police and the armed forces who made the ultimate sacrifice on those eventful four days.
On the opposite end of the hoarding, a group of young volunteers assisted two of the city’s hospitals in a blood donation drive.
St. George Hospital and Nair Hospital jointly held a camp in memory of the 26/11 victims. On those November days, both the hospitals served several injured who were shot by the 10 gunmen.
“We have been conducting the blood donation camp from the past four years on 26/11. In the first year, we collected 3,000 bottles of blood from six centres spread across various stations in Mumbai,” said Anil Gare, Secretary, Voluntary Blood Donation Committee, S.B.T.C, Government of Maharashtra.
The blood donation camp at CST collected 114 bottles till 3.30 p.m on Monday. The infrastructure required to collect blood is often sponsored and the quantity collected is proportionate to the donation received.
At other places in the city such as the Gateway of India, Hotel Trident, Nariman House and Leopold Café, which were the other targets of the 26/11 attacks, brief commemoration events were held.
Social networking sites were abuzz with voices remembering the terror attacks.
Wake-up call
Even from across the border, there were sporadic voices of solidarity from some leading Pakistani nationals.
“Thinking of Mumbai victims and their families. Apologies from the other side of the border. Remember most Pakistanis condemn terrorism!,” Raza Rumi, a Pakistani columnist, tweeted.
However, some were more cautious in their comments suggesting that justice to the victims is not complete without rooting out the terror networks.
“This may sound cynical but nothing much has changed. Our security system still lagging behind while terror networks in Pakistan are alive and kicking,” tweeted historian Irfan Habib.
satyanarayan.iyer@thehindu.co.in
nivedita.ganguly@thehindu.co.in
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