I can still taste the panic I felt that day, when my two and a half year old ran to the window in my mother’s house shouting ‘fire crackers!!’
It had been a few weeks since Diwali so that felt wrong.
Or maybe it was the macabre sound of gun shots that so clearly reached me first.
7 months pregnant with my second child, I waddled behind him instinctively screaming, ‘Don’t go near the window!’
All night, I watched through that very window,
the iconic dome of the Taj Mahal Palace burn!
All night, I wondered what is this horrific world
that I am bringing my children into?
In the days to come, so many I knew lost so many they loved.
The guilty relief that it wasn’t us when it so easily could have been, was weighed down heavily with immense grief for the people we knew;
and for those we didn’t but who protected strangers like us anyway;
That relief was also laced with fear and anxiety for a long time to come, no matter where we went.
There was just one thought…
What if it happens again?!
13 years on, there’s a different sense of relief that it did not…rather WAS not allowed to happen again.
And a prayer that it never will be!
This relief, pride and joy when I see the iconic Taj Dome restored to its former glory is complete!
Salute and respect to all our brave warriors, both known and unknown, who continue to work quietly and tirelessly to keep us safe.
Salute and respect to that iconic Dome of Taj which stands proud today as the symbol of the relentless spirit of our city.
Salute and respect always and forever for my home & safe haven,
Mumbai!
Nitya Alwani Satyani
#tajmahalpalace #tajhotelmumbai #2611mumbaiattacks #tribute
Sunset Effect - Nitya Satyani 