So it is over finally, or is it ?

60 hours of fear , uncertainty and anger blended with hope for the survivors , faith on the armed forces and a strong gush of unity that extended beyond Mumbai and marked the sentiments of the entire nation. It has been a weird calm since yesterday , out TV isn't bubbling with reports of more grenade blasts and hostage killing anymore , but for the first time in our history of terror strikes this one has brought out feelings of 'we need to do something desperately ' amongst everyone. While life in Mumbai limps back to normal and not bounces back like earlier as this time the city witnessed something so petrifying like never before.
Yes , Leopold's is open again while at the Taj and Oberoi empolyees have series of meetings to discuss what to do now. CST must be crowded as well as people get back to work , to their routine life.I do not think it is the just the spirit of people of Mumbai, it is more of necessity. I can see in Bangalore , the security at places enhanced so much since Friday , esp in my campus where we are checked atleast thrice before entering.But this time I am not complaining, neither are the others. This I guess is the minimum bit we can do to stay safe. Of course the debate of lets all vote continues , I think a lot of us will enroll ourselves this time, Ankit already has :)
Resignations do not matter , while I am dumbstruck at the statements made by some so called leaders. What matters is being equipped to deal with such situations , whether a regular security chap or the police constable . It is scary to think that some of the terrorists might still be free on the streets of Mumbai or anywhere with their stock of explosives just waiting to rewind the terror on a certain black Wednesday night in Nov.
Taking a moment to think about those that lost a family member , a friend or a colleague in those 60 hours ... a special dinner at Taj on Wednesday turned into the worst possible nightmare. Also taking a moment to salute those slain policemen, commandos and hotel staff who put others before them, salute those 250 firemen who risked their lives hanging from ladders to rescue people all night , the marcos and other commandos who killed those cowards while still managing to rescue those trapped inside.
This for me defines what my country is at the moment , and I feel tremendously proud of just this one fact.

As I write this post , it has been over 36 hours since terror gripped Mumbai and the war is still on. Latest reports being that they are killing hostages !Anyways , not going into the other details that the new channels are anyways doing a fantastic job of , let me say what really got me worked up is when I head our PM's speech last night. I don't know if someone forced him to speak like that or if he really was that unconcerned and indifferent as he sounded ! That was hardly motivating and definitely not assuring the country anything.
I would much prefer to hear the defence heads speak as they carry out the real action , their guys risking their lives for all those trapped . Am hoping we do not get to see any other politician making ridiculous speeches in an attempt to glorify himself on tv, we have had enough of it.

It is possibly the worst possible terror strike as far as I remember .The all night gun battle in the top hotels of the city or the visuals of fire emerging from the central dome of the Taj Hotel , reports on so many security folks killed not to mention the 100 odd innocent lives that have been lost so far ... It is like a never ending nightmare. I watched the news coverage late last night and crashed in some time assuming everything would be fine by morning as there were no reports on casualties or hostage like situation yet. But this is turning to be very very ghastly, with so many people still trapped in the fire and held hostage by a handful of terrorists. As the news flashes in of more police men killed including the ATS chief ,my heart goes out for their families. Here we are watching the coverage on tv and then heading off to bed for our peaceful sleep while those guys fight it out all night and not just for them.Makes me realise suddenly , they are the real fighters while we are probably just a bunch that is contented in passing occasional comments and whining when such incidents occur . Sincerely salute them all and my prayers are with their families.
A strange disturbing feeling this is , as though we are not safe anywhere, expect anyone to start shooting anywhere. The threat looms all over even while we are on with our routine chores. And another question pops up as well , whats happening to our country, what went so wrong ?
I am at work now , but somehow still shocked , yet to absorb the fact that such a security breach can happen. Terrorists loaded with AK-47s and other ammunition in 5* hotels ! What is more scary is that there might be a lot of them still roaming free in the streets of Mumbai , ready to strike just as we get a grip on the situation at other places...
All that we can do now is may be just pray , for those trapped and for those fighting it out for all of us. But a tiny part of me also wants to just go an shoot those ******** right now.

There are 4 of them , each one more ferocious than the other and trying to scare me more than the other. Waiting for the office shuttle in the morning has never been a more terrifying experience for me :( I am sure the folks around have a neat time watching me jump from one spot to another , as my eye balls rotate at exponential speed in trying to keep a watch on those monsters! The other day I actually tripped and almost fell over on one of the flower sellers .
I can't believe it , this is my 3rd post on them, creatures that i am not too fond of. Somehow they make their presence felt in my life though and these days a gang of 4 has made the place near my cab stop their morning adda. Wonder why , there is no litter , no stray food lying around as well , then why me !Unless they feast on the terror in my eyes :((
In case you haven't realized what I am talking about .. it is the deadly 4 legged canines that haunt all Bangalore streets and lanes, and of course you must have realized my symptoms also , dog-o-phobia :(
Seriously , I have been thinking of excuses to miss the shuttle , thanks to these dogs ! It is literally mortal fear of life when I stand there for those 10 mins every morning. And I don't know how to overcome it , any tips ? At times I think I am entitled to a body guard as well :D

I know this is coming really really late considering that the trip happened sometime mid Sep, but I had to write this post ! Had to coz of a multitude of reasons , the adventure , the planning , the wait , the fun games , the amazing driver and on and on. So the story begins..
I think it was Pooja and Shilpa who came up with the plan all of a sudden and I said a yes to it as I had never been there and also coz Shilpa assured that we would not have to wait for long in the queue as she would arrange vip passes. Well when some one from The Deshmukh Family says it you do believe it :D Gattu also agreed , but the most surprising part was when Rahul also said yes! The fun just began as Shilpa clearly told at her place "it is me lipi and 2 couples " , well how are we to get 2 couples , and then started the various permutations/combinations and we were finally ready with the 5 of us and Pooja's friend Amrita. The D day comes and we are supposed to start sometime in the afternoon. Now let me mention this first , I have this weird night-travel-0-phobia (esp 4 wheeler) and desperately wanted to reach the place before late evening, threatening everyone that otherwise we halt on the way for the night. Though I was mostly engrossed in my book , it was fun watching the others struggle to guess movie names especially gattu , and that too accompanied by Pooja's enlightening comments during the journey !
Anyways after some 4 -5 hours and darshan at the Ganesh temple on the way we finally reached Tirupathi and then started the frantic calls to Mr(Basha/Pasha/Badshah) to confirm the hotel for us only to realise it was already full. And so the group spilt , me and shilpa with the driver in the car and the other 4 in another group. Something I would never forget was Shilpa's statement at one lodge "aap ghante ke hisaab se charge nahin karoge" !! Anyways , the others were luckier and after 1 and hr hours of hotel hunting we found a very good place to fit in all of us very comfortably.A good dinner and all of us tired souls off to bed knowing that the next day would be hectic.
In the morning we planned to visit the Lashmi Temple first and then head for the main temple on the hill where (lets call him this) Basha would be waiting for us with the darshan passes. While on the way we got to know it was Hindi Day , and started the game of talking in 100% shudhh hindi having decided that the one who loses would treat the rest at coffee day. Rahul was smart , didnt say a word , I tried and gave up, it was too tough for me. I think Pooja was the clear winner.
And so we reached the Tirumala town where Mr Basha was no where in sight :( and we kept waiting at MBC-25 , was that it ? Guys please correct me !
A lot of confusion , wait and finally we managed the passes. I would not go into details coz everything is well that ends well :) And then the darshan , it was truly amazing, despite the crowd and the wait. And by 6 we were done, also kinda dead tired .I must mention here that our driver was a really nice chap , did not complain even once as we kept oscillating from one place to another although did redirect us towards the free darshan queue couple of times!
And so we started back from there late in the evening , with gattu assuring me that night travel is absolutely safe and he would ensure the driver doesnt doze off, thx gattu !
Most of us managed some minutes of sleep before we reached home close to midnight . Oh yeah , we all did plan to bug Mr.Basha with missed calls for all the trouble he put us through :D , and believe me we actually did that !
Before I forget ,
@shilpa , I pity all those people you blasted on phone :) , but am so glad we all had the darshan.
@pooja, you are an awesome organizer, a must include for all outings!
@rahul, I agree with u , we must do these trips more often, and yes, sorry for the funny pic on the way :D
@amrita , amazing enthu and thx a bunch for arranging all the passes.
@gattu , thx for being awake almost all night during the return journey and taking care that the driver is awake as well and playing all those lovely songs :)