A Mumbaikar's Personal Story of the 26/11 Terror Attacks

Yesterday was 26/11, November 26th, which in my city is not an ordinary date on the calendar.

It marks the day when in 2008, 10 terrorists stormed across iconic sites across my hometown,

unleashing three days of bloodshed. One of those targets was Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj

Terminus, the very station that my aunt passed through almost every evening.

By chance or by providence, she took a different train home that night,

narrowly escaping the so, uh, the fate of the 166 souls that did

not. Another target was the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel where my best friend's father,

a major in the National Security Guard, was one of the first commandos to repel into a burning inferno.