The SUN - One shot

Blasted But Up

From where I came, I had no idea how badly to interpret this information. So I did what I did best naturally. Be stupid & ask questions.

"Where? What?"I ask

"There was a blast last night in a local train near Mulund station" he says with a sad sigh, "Almost 10 people have been killed. Mostly women" He seemed extremely sad. It was frightening.

"That's... tragic..." I was at a loss of words to understand such a scenario. "Anybody in your family hurt?" I ask, fervently wishing that this was not what it all boils down to.

"No. We are all good. But its just that..." he pauses as if struggling with some inner conflict, and then continues, casting his eyes downwards as we start walking towards our class, "I feel sad and depressed when such things happen. I can imagine the pain that their families must be undergoing right now" he closes his eyes and says in a rushed whisper, "Its just too much". I think he did not mean for me to hear the last line but I did anyway. Before I can ask him what that means, he leaves my side to go sit with his group of buddies and I fall into my usual seat in one of the corners of the class, thinking hard.

Over the course of the day, I found out more about this blast. It was a powerful blast in a Karjat bound train. As the train neared Mulund station, just one station away from where we lived, the ladies first class compartment went kaboom! Occurring at 8:40 pm, it had lead to the immediate death of 10 people and fatal injuries to 2 others who later succumbed to them.

It was a horror tale to me. How unjust could the world be? Why did the innocent have to pay with their lives always? Where was batman when you need him?

Something else bothered me. Anay had been sad the whole day. If I didn't know otherwise I would have thought he had lost his own kin in this accident. The warmness which used to emanate from him for all was not present and I had a hard time concentrating on anything else.

"Why? Why do you bother at all." Voice 1 taunts.

" I agree. He means no one to you" Voice 2 retorts, for once taking Voice 1's side. Will they ever spare me!

"Its only his smile. Nothing else. I have grown used to that. Plus the fact that he seems to be the only familiar and warm soul in sight. People get attached to positivism like getting attached to tea or coffee" I argue with myself, trying to ineffectively end this conversation.

***

Later in the day, when I am walking back home, I wave back to Baba standing at the school gates. He has a sad smile on his face as he waves back, so I decided to go talk to him. After all, he was & is in fact my first friend here.

"Good evening Uncle! How are you doing today?" I called to him. In India, we call all male and elderly people who are not family as Uncle. Its a normal form of greeting.

"Ekdum Best! And call me Dada like everyone does" He smiled in reply

"Did you hear about the blast?" I say for the purpose of saying something, though of course I know who wouldn't have (*mental eye roll at self*).

" Yeah it was worse than the last few. The world isn't the safe place we think it is inside our own bubbles" he said, sadness creeping in his eyes.

"Last few?" I ask incredulous, "How often does this happen?" I say with eyes wide open now.

"This is the fourth bomb blast in the city in the last 4 months. The death toll is the highest in this one. However, we have seen bigger blasts in this city. It isn't the golden city for only one reason. We celebrate the courage and the spirit of Mumbai every year on this date i.e. today for surviving through the biggest of catastrophes" he tells me, his eyes starting to become clouded with memories.

"Why do you celebrate today particularly?" I ask

"In 1993, on this day, there had been 12 serial blasts in Mumbai. More than 250 people had died on that day. Today would be the 10th anniversary of that dastardly event" he states.

I am left dumbfound with this newly acquired knowledge on this city. The terror and violence that it has faced leaves me speechless. However the nerve and grit which the city and its people showed to rise back from the shackles of death and loss is astounding.

Before I could comprehend what to say, Baba continues, "Today would also be the 10th year that we have survived without her" and then he falls silent.

It takes me a minute to understand and then, "Do you mean to say that these blasts took away Anay's ..." I trail.

"Yes" he had nodded.

***

A/N:

Hope you enjoy this chapter. I will try to move the story faster from here.

Seeya Soon!

Regards,

Yours Truly.

P.S. - All the bomb blasts mentioned in this chapter are not fictional and have in fact resulted in huge casualties, numbers for which have been mentioned during the chapter.

I sincerely feel for all the families affected and hope that they are doing well now. I am sure I can never understand their misery but hope I am able to at least capture some essence of it.