No work today since the office was closed. But I didn't want to hide in my hostel, so I decided to to go down to some of the areas where the terror acts happened. I wanted to witness it... and I knew some people that usually hang out there so I felt that I needed to go down there... I had other reasons too, that I quiet can't explain. We were advised to stay at our hostel, especially since Westerners have been targeted especially Americans and Brits, but once again ... I just couldn't do it.
I had read the newspaper in the morning, and seen photos taken from the CST station of dead people laying in puddles of blood (with the faces blurred so that they couldn't be recognized).
When I walked in the CST station in the morning, it looked like everything was back to normal. The trains came and left, and people walked around. The only difference was that there where a little less people, and the guards where more armed. ..but nothing really that clearly gave a sign of what just happened the night before.
McDonald's across the street from there was closed. I met an Englishman outside. He had just come to town last night, and left CST just minutes before the shootings started. I told him that Americans and Brits were especially targeted, and decided to maybe just get out of town.
The streets in general where a lot calmer, and the closer you got to Colaba, the more stores were closed. I have never seen Bombay like this. It's eerie.
I came to Leopold's ...my favorite joint in the area (but where I haven't been too much lately, but where I pass almost daily). The metal "drapes" were pulled down, as everywhere else. There were bullet holes here and there, and a shoe left in the street, and even some blood. One could look inside if you stepped up a little bit. I did do, and saw how there were plates with food and beer bottles left on the table .. left untouched from the time the terror acts happened last night. There plates and bottles on the floor too. People walked and looked around in curiosity. Couldn't figure out why some of them were smiling. I met a couple middle aged Canadian women that had left Leopold's just half an hour before it happened.
I was happy to see that my taxi driver friend from Kashmir was safe. He came to me when I stood outside Leopold's and was happy to see that I was okay. Since I have been here for a while, I have gotten to know some of the local people on these streets, and he was one of them. He witnessed the shootings last night, and he told me about what he saw. I could tell that he was heavily affected but it. He told me that there where two men with automatic weapons that started to shoot at everybody in the path. One was shooting towards Leopold's and the other was shooting towards the United Colors of Bennetton store across the street and also the Muslim restaurant next to it. Not sure if the restaurant was still open or not. My friend told me about an long haired Australian guy who sat at Leopold's that didn't stand a chance.
Then a crowd of people gathered around an ambulance that stopped around the corner. They pulled out the body of a young father that had been killed to his home on the first floor. He worked in the Pharmacy on the other side the street from there, where I occasionally bought things. The screams and the cries from his wife could be heard on street outside ..and it ripped inside me like razor blades.
I went to the Taj Mahal hotel too... just a few hundred meters from here. I guess they are still holding hostages there. Dead bodies have been taken out a few times, and ambulances are leaving the area at a regular basis, ether carrying dead or wounded people. There are a lot of media people there, and other crowds of curious people.
I am sitting in a internet cafe a few meters from Leopold's. They are one of the very very few open places in the area.
There are many policemen and soldiers on the streets.
I am heading back out now, I don't feel like leaving the area now... I'll go back to the area around Taj Mahal.
I had read the newspaper in the morning, and seen photos taken from the CST station of dead people laying in puddles of blood (with the faces blurred so that they couldn't be recognized).
When I walked in the CST station in the morning, it looked like everything was back to normal. The trains came and left, and people walked around. The only difference was that there where a little less people, and the guards where more armed. ..but nothing really that clearly gave a sign of what just happened the night before.
McDonald's across the street from there was closed. I met an Englishman outside. He had just come to town last night, and left CST just minutes before the shootings started. I told him that Americans and Brits were especially targeted, and decided to maybe just get out of town.
The streets in general where a lot calmer, and the closer you got to Colaba, the more stores were closed. I have never seen Bombay like this. It's eerie.
I came to Leopold's ...my favorite joint in the area (but where I haven't been too much lately, but where I pass almost daily). The metal "drapes" were pulled down, as everywhere else. There were bullet holes here and there, and a shoe left in the street, and even some blood. One could look inside if you stepped up a little bit. I did do, and saw how there were plates with food and beer bottles left on the table .. left untouched from the time the terror acts happened last night. There plates and bottles on the floor too. People walked and looked around in curiosity. Couldn't figure out why some of them were smiling. I met a couple middle aged Canadian women that had left Leopold's just half an hour before it happened.
I was happy to see that my taxi driver friend from Kashmir was safe. He came to me when I stood outside Leopold's and was happy to see that I was okay. Since I have been here for a while, I have gotten to know some of the local people on these streets, and he was one of them. He witnessed the shootings last night, and he told me about what he saw. I could tell that he was heavily affected but it. He told me that there where two men with automatic weapons that started to shoot at everybody in the path. One was shooting towards Leopold's and the other was shooting towards the United Colors of Bennetton store across the street and also the Muslim restaurant next to it. Not sure if the restaurant was still open or not. My friend told me about an long haired Australian guy who sat at Leopold's that didn't stand a chance.
Then a crowd of people gathered around an ambulance that stopped around the corner. They pulled out the body of a young father that had been killed to his home on the first floor. He worked in the Pharmacy on the other side the street from there, where I occasionally bought things. The screams and the cries from his wife could be heard on street outside ..and it ripped inside me like razor blades.
I went to the Taj Mahal hotel too... just a few hundred meters from here. I guess they are still holding hostages there. Dead bodies have been taken out a few times, and ambulances are leaving the area at a regular basis, ether carrying dead or wounded people. There are a lot of media people there, and other crowds of curious people.
I am sitting in a internet cafe a few meters from Leopold's. They are one of the very very few open places in the area.
There are many policemen and soldiers on the streets.
I am heading back out now, I don't feel like leaving the area now... I'll go back to the area around Taj Mahal.
2 kommentarer:
Hej Janne!
Skont att hora att du ar ok. Vi kom att tanka pa dig nar vi horde om det hemska som hant. Hoppas det lugnar ner sig nu och inte blir varre. Vi ser framemot att ses nar vi kommer tillbaka till Mumbai den 18:e dec!
Halsningar,
Nadia och Henrik (traffades pa internetcafeet nara Leopolds i okt)
Tjenare,
hoppas att ni har haft en bra resa i Indien. Hur lange e ni i Bombay innan ni aker hem?
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