Friday, November 28, 2008

Mumbai Attacks

**photo taken from the web

I am so saddened by the recent terrorist attacks in Mumbai. My thoughts and heart go out to the families of the victims and to the survivors. I love India-it's one of my favorite places to travel to. I love the country and I love the people.

From the most recent news story: There were ten separate sites in Mumbai attacked by gunman. At least 150 people have been killed, including four Americans, and hundreds more people have been injured. It seems that the gunmen concentrated their attacks on Mumbai's financial and luxury tourist center. One of the hotels targeted was the Taj Mahal and it seems that foreign tourists were being singled out. Also, from what I've read, the hotel suffered extensive damage. The Taj is a stunningly beautiful hotel; it's a heritage building-built 105 years ago. I've not stayed there but I did have a meal in the restaurant. The food was over the top delicious. Even the drinks-I had a Bloody Mary made with fresh tomatoes; it was beyond wonderful.

India has a very capable military so I hope that the remaining terrorists will be stopped shortly and that all the captives will be rescued. I keep imagining how horrific it is for the remaining people trapped in the hotel, barricaded in their rooms without food or running water, not knowing who will arrive first, rescuers or terrorists. The situation is just heart-breaking.

One of the survivors is a two-year old boy-both of his parents, a young Rabbi and his wife, were murdered in the attack on a Jewish center. The little boy was found later in blood covered clothing, so it is assumed that he witnessed his parents being killed. His name is Moshe and today is his birthday. A fund has been set up to help the Rabbi's children and to rebuild the Jewish community center in Mumbai. If you are interested in donating, here is the link.

https://www.mychabad.org/templates/relief/donate.asp?&lang=en&site=chabadindia.org

5 comments:

  1. We've been following it too. It was just amazed at how long it took our news here in the states to start writing and talking about it. My parents are in Paris and they were texting me about it and when I went online all I found was this itty bitty article about it. It took about an hour and half after that before it became mega news here.

    It is so sad and our thoughts and prayers are with everyone over there too-----

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  2. Thank you for the comment. It would be interesting to see what the European news agencies are saying. I'll have to check out the BBC site.

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  3. That is a very sad story. I have been saddened following it on the news as well.

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  4. As you know John and Lauries friends are from India and Ashwani's younger sister is in Maumbai.
    He was very worried about her and his next door neighbors who were traveling in India and they were to check into the Taj Mahal, but were rerouted because of the attack. He did find out that his sister and friends were all okay, so he was much relieved.
    Ashwani himself was leaving for India today, he was going to postpone but has decided to go ahead with his travel to see his family.

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  5. I am so glad that everyone is okay.

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