Mumbai: on the Terrorist Trail

We only had six hours in Mumbai before embarking on our 26 hour train to Chennai. My sister Demelza had talked excitedly about Mumbai on the phone the previous evening, but considering that 55% of the population lives in the slums, I had misgivings. That’s 55% of 16.4 million, if we thought Ahmedabad was bad, what would over 9 million people living in the slums be like? We figured six hours would definitely be enough!

On arrival we caught one of the 40,000 black old style taxis from our station to CST Victoria Terminus where we would depart that afternoon. About 2.5 million people pass through this station everyday; consequently it was one of the sites of the Mumbai terrorist attacks 16 days previous to our visit. We expected tight security and doubted if the cloak room would be available, but it was worth a try. Imagine then our surprise when we were allowed to freely walk into the station, with hardly an eye batted in our direction! Sure there were metal detectors and armed guards, but these were largely ignored. I saw one officer scratching his back with his machine gun. As for the cloak room, again no problem, we had to fill in a lengthy form and produce our onward ticket but that was it. Actually the personal were changing over as we were loading our bags onto an available shelf and the new guy scolded me for leaving my purse on his desk unattended! Seriously, considering the terrorist attack and the fact all these bags were left on the shelf beside him, he was worried about my little purse?

Actually the station building is a tourist site in itself being a pretty amazing colonial architectural feet; very beautiful. We were to be continually surprised by Mumbai throughout the morning and this was a perfect place to start our walking tour. Malachy still had the Mumbai shuffle from the contaminated water we were sold, so our progress was slow, but we still managed to hit the main spots as they are clustered along the street that leads down to the pier. Although it was early Sunday morning, Mumbai seemed eerily quiet. Where were all the people? Where were all the cars? Where were all the beggars? Where were the cows? Where was the excessive dirt? All of this baffled and impressed us. The historical tourist hotspots are in Colaba, the area we were now walking and it was beautiful. Huge streets lined with palm trees, clean, wonderful buildings, no hassle from touts - it was actually relaxing. All the apprehension I felt for the visit drained away. We discovered we also seemed to be taking the terrorist trail, for most of the spots that were hit in the attacks of November 26th were along our walking route. I wonder did the terrorist consult the Lonely Planet when they were planning their attacks?! We passed Leopold’s Café, where apparently ‘most tourists end up at this Mumbai travellers’ institution at one time or another’, which was also a target during the attacks, XX people were killed here. The doors were open and defiantly it was business as usual. We had planned on snacking here as a sign of solidarity but unfortunately time didn’t allow. Leopold’s is literally just around the corner from the Taj Mahal Palace and Tower hotel. It takes up a whole block.

Security was present around the hotel and you were not allowed to cross the barrier or enter some of the side streets leading up to it. The damaged caused by the bombs and fire is blocked by screens, but nothing can hide the sheer size of the complex. It’s no wonder it took so long to end the siege. The hotel is on the harbour and can be seen plainly from the Gateway Of India; a large arch on the lands edge, leading out to the harbour and in from where the terrorist arrived via boat.

The plaza in front of the arch is now surrounded by a barricade and metal detectors manned by sleepy guards. We freely walked through the detectors, they beeped, but nobody took any notice. People were also walking in through the exit gap, with backpacks and bags, but again no notice was taken. We felt that if a terrorist were to come back and finish what they started, there is definitely nothing stopping them.

In the six or seven months leading up to 26/11 there was actually one or more bombs in each of the months, sometimes the death toll far in excess of 26/11. But in Mumbai it was an attack on foreigners and the rich, thus the world is now listening. We would like to offer our condolences to everybody affected by 26/11 and all the previous terrorist attacks on India.