When the notes stood still

Joint Official Statement fromLive Earth Founder Kevin Wall, The Office of the Honorable Al Gore andDr. R.K. Pachauri, Chairman IPCCRegardingLive Earth IndiaFriday, November 28, 2008Everyone involved with Live Earth India, from our U.S.- and India-based staff, artists and crew to our India-based broadcast, production, non-profit and marketing communications partners, is stunned and saddened by the tragic events of the past few days in our host city Mumbai. We always felt very welcomed and safe as we spent more time on the ground in Mumbai to finalize plans for Live Earth India, scheduled for December 7. Due to circumstances far beyond our control, we are saddened to announce that Live Earth India has been cancelled. We will continue to work for solutions to the climate crisis for the good of the people of India and around the world. But for now, our thoughts and our prayers are with the victims of this terrible attack, with the bereaved, with the people of Mumbai and with everyone in India. For updated information, please visit www.LiveEarth.org
A series of high-profile performances scheduled in Bombay over the next fortnight have been cancelled or postponed, and one put in serious doubt. A report by Himanshu Bhandari and Lakshmi Govindrajan for The Asian Age:

Against the backdrop of the terror attacks, the last thing security forces would want are large gatherings of people in heavily populated areas and including foreign nationals — both artistes and audiences.
The highly-anticipated Live Earth concert, the first in Mumbai, is scheduled to feature international acts like Bon Jovi and Roger Waters, as well as a host of Bollywood celebrities, at Bandra’s MMRDA grounds on December 7. But doubt had been cast on the show’s go-ahead in light of the current situation.
At the time of going to press, Anuja Choudhary, PR and corporate communications head of show organisers Wizcraft said a final call had yet to be taken. Asked of the possibility of an international act refusing to perform, she said, “It’s a collective decision. There has been no statement from the Live Earth organisation yet. Right now their prime concern is the safety of their staff. We’ll have to wait and watch.”
The Mumbai leg of Jethro Tull and Anoushka Shankar’s series of nationwide joint performances has definitely been cancelled. On Thursday, E18 chief executive officer Farhad Wadia had said the show was still on, while band leader and flautist Ian Anderson said, “If there’s ever a good time it’s now, people must be looking forward to happy things.”
But a day later Wadia revealed the decision to cancel after learning the police couldn’t assure maximum security. “The band even offered to perform for free, with the show’s proceeds going to victims of the attacks. But we can’t go ahead with it. We are now looking at rescheduling the show to December 4.” However the venue, he revealed, could shift from the original Shanmukhananda Hall.
The 2008 Jazz Utsav, a three-day festival scheduled to open on Friday at the Bandra Amphitheatre, has been postponed. First held in 1975 as Jazz India and latterly as the Jazz Yatra festival, the event is one of Mumbai’s longest-running and most identifiable music festivals. This year’s edition, organised by Blue Frog and Capital Jazz, did not open as scheduled on Friday.
Blue Frog communications head Tina Kapur said, “There were two things — one’s obviously the security aspect. Plus, it’s a decision out of respect. We’re looking to reschedule but since there are so many parties involved — bands, sponsors and organisers — there will be changes, including line-ups.” Asked if a rescheduling will push the event into the new year, she said, “We’re looking to have it before that, in December.”
For the National Centre for Performing Arts (NCPA), the terrorists’ choice of location could not have been worse. The cultural centre is a stone’s throw away from the Oberoi-Trident, and the inaugural performance in its Arties India series of biannual chamber music festivals did not go ahead as planned on Thursday evening. Two subsequent performances on Saturday and Sunday featuring renowned French ensemble the Arties have had to be cancelled too, NCPA chairman Khushroo Suntook said.
“The police is not allowing us to go ahead with the performance, although we will make for all security arrangements. We have top people, our own staff, who will sweep and sanitise the entire area. For the moment, the Arties performances have been cancelled for this weekend. But the artistes will definitely be back for their next scheduled mini-festival in March,” said Suntook. Mumbai’s status as India’s financial capital is much touted, but few would argue its position as a cultural hub too. Its fabric and collective consciousness shaken, perhaps a dose of the eclectic is exactly what Mumbai needs right now. As Suntook observed of the NCPA’s cancelled performances, “This is music played defiantly in Moscow even as the Nazis were at the border. Music is a great medium to show resolve against brutality, and a way of calming people too.”

CST was mere diversion - The aftermath

The police now believes that the mayhem at Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST) on November 26 was just a diversionary tactic to allow terrorist teams holed up in the Taj Mahal Hotel, Nariman House and the Oberoi Trident Hotel to complete their plans and hold hundreds of people hostage.
According to senior officers involved with the investigations, the two terrorists went about creating mayhem at CST and then went on a shooting spree to ensure that the police would already be engaged with them when any alarm was sounded from either of the hotels about trouble brewing there.
“Their main targets were the two hotels as on any given day, several foreign nationals are lodged there. They wanted their attacks to be taken seriously even by western countries. They knew that the western world would definitely take the attack very seriously with several of their citizens taken hostage,” said a source.
The source further said that by opening fire at busy CST railway station in the evening, all top police officers would be engaged and in that time, their other teams could have enough time to enter the hotels.
This was seconded by some of the railway constables on duty at CST at the time who said that it didn’t seem like the terrorists had any particular purpose apart from creating panic and mayhem. Terrorists killed railway police inspector Shashank Shinde and Railway Protection Force head constable M.L. Chaudhary.
“It didn’t look like they were targetting anything in particular at CST or had any plans to get from A to B in the huge lobby of the station. In fact, they wanted to run towards the BEST bus depot outside and probably take the GPO road towards the Taj, but due to sustained fire from railway security forces, they changed their plan and went towards D.N. Road by using the foot over-bridge on the north end of the platform. It was from here that they went towards the Cama Hospital where a firefight killed ATS chief Hemant Karkare, additional commissioner Ashok Kamte and encounter specialist Vijay Salaskar.
Meanwhile, railway police commissioner A.K. Sharma only said, “I can neither deny or confirm this, as investigations are on.”

CST was mere diversion - The aftermath

The police now believes that the mayhem at Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST) on November 26 was just a diversionary tactic to allow terrorist teams holed up in the Taj Mahal Hotel, Nariman House and the Oberoi Trident Hotel to complete their plans and hold hundreds of people hostage.
According to senior officers involved with the investigations, the two terrorists went about creating mayhem at CST and then went on a shooting spree to ensure that the police would already be engaged with them when any alarm was sounded from either of the hotels about trouble brewing there.
“Their main targets were the two hotels as on any given day, several foreign nationals are lodged there. They wanted their attacks to be taken seriously even by western countries. They knew that the western world would definitely take the attack very seriously with several of their citizens taken hostage,” said a source.
The source further said that by opening fire at busy CST railway station in the evening, all top police officers would be engaged and in that time, their other teams could have enough time to enter the hotels.
This was seconded by some of the railway constables on duty at CST at the time who said that it didn’t seem like the terrorists had any particular purpose apart from creating panic and mayhem. Terrorists killed railway police inspector Shashank Shinde and Railway Protection Force head constable M.L. Chaudhary.
“It didn’t look like they were targetting anything in particular at CST or had any plans to get from A to B in the huge lobby of the station. In fact, they wanted to run towards the BEST bus depot outside and probably take the GPO road towards the Taj, but due to sustained fire from railway security forces, they changed their plan and went towards D.N. Road by using the foot over-bridge on the north end of the platform. It was from here that they went towards the Cama Hospital where a firefight killed ATS chief Hemant Karkare, additional commissioner Ashok Kamte and encounter specialist Vijay Salaskar.
Meanwhile, railway police commissioner A.K. Sharma only said, “I can neither deny or confirm this, as investigations are on.”

CST was mere diversion

The police now believes that the mayhem at Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST) on November 26 was just a diversionary tactic to allow terrorist teams holed up in the Taj Mahal Hotel, Nariman House and the Oberoi Trident Hotel to complete their plans and hold hundreds of people hostage.
According to senior officers involved with the investigations, the two terrorists went about creating mayhem at CST and then went on a shooting spree to ensure that the police would already be engaged with them when any alarm was sounded from either of the hotels about trouble brewing there.
“Their main targets were the two hotels as on any given day, several foreign nationals are lodged there. They wanted their attacks to be taken seriously even by western countries. They knew that the western world would definitely take the attack very seriously with several of their citizens taken hostage,” said a source.
The source further said that by opening fire at busy CST railway station in the evening, all top police officers would be engaged and in that time, their other teams could have enough time to enter the hotels.
This was seconded by some of the railway constables on duty at CST at the time who said that it didn’t seem like the terrorists had any particular purpose apart from creating panic and mayhem. Terrorists killed railway police inspector Shashank Shinde and Railway Protection Force head constable M.L. Chaudhary.
“It didn’t look like they were targetting anything in particular at CST or had any plans to get from A to B in the huge lobby of the station. In fact, they wanted to run towards the BEST bus depot outside and probably take the GPO road towards the Taj, but due to sustained fire from railway security forces, they changed their plan and went towards D.N. Road by using the foot over-bridge on the north end of the platform. It was from here that they went towards the Cama Hospital where a firefight killed ATS chief Hemant Karkare, additional commissioner Ashok Kamte and encounter specialist Vijay Salaskar.
Meanwhile, railway police commissioner A.K. Sharma only said, “I can neither deny or confirm this, as investigations are on.”

Mumbai Massacre

250 hurt; firing at cst station; hospital hit

taj, oberoi attacked; guests held hostage

ATS chief among dead; SOS to army, Navy, NSG

By The Asian Age correspondents
Mumbai

Nov. 26: After a brief lull, Mumbai was again blown to shreds with four blasts ripping through Santa Cruz, Vile Parle, Sandhurst Road and Nariman Point, leaving over 80 dead and over 250 injured. Apart from the blasts, terrorists have also opened fire at four places including Marine Drive, Nariman Point, Colaba and Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST). According to eyewitnesses at Colaba, some people toting assault rifles opened fire in Leopold Restaurant that was packed to the rafters with diners, who were mostly foreign nationals. The modus operandi of the attackers was to lob grenades before opening fire at all the spots.
“There was a blast that was followed by gunfire,” said a man who ran a stall outside the restaurant. “As soon as we heard the blast, we immediately dropped to the floor and hence, were not able to see the people who fired,” he added.
A similar incident occurred outside the Oberoi Hotel at Nariman Point, where many people who were strolling outside the hotel were caught in the indiscriminate firing. Many of those injured were guests at the hotel, while others were seaside revellers.
A social worker at the St George’s Hospital at Fort said that ever since 10.15 pm, the number of people being wheeled in had almost reached 200 and this figure included both injured and dead people.
Eyewitnesses at CST said that as soon as the train pulled into Platform 4, they heard shots being fired and did not leave the compartment till the sounds subsided.
A policeman, in civil clothes, reportedly got shot even as he was asking people to run for cover from the pavement outside Cama and Albless hospital as sporadic firing was heard in the area.
At approximately 11.00 pm, two blasts were reported at the Dockyard Station and Vile Parle. The intensity of the blasts and the number of people injured was not known.
There were also unconfirmed reports of two blasts at Napeansea Road.
The state government declared that it was a terror attack even as the police and army personnel swung into action and reached the spots where the firing took place. Mr K.P. Raghuvanshi, additional DG (railways) said, “It is too early to say anything at the moment, but we suspect it was a terror attack.” Deputy chief minister R.R. Patil wanted to visit Colaba after hearing news of the firing at the Taj Mahal Hotel and Leopold Restaurant, but police officials advised the minister against it, as firing was still on and the police did not want to take a risk. However, the minister later reached Colaba police station and had a discussion with senior police officials about the situation in hand.
Mr Shakeel Ahmed, the Union Minister of State for Home, who is also a Congress spokesperson said, “There is information about firing at five places. We also have information that encounters are happening at two places. But at the moment we cannot say anything for sure. The police is taking necessary action. We will know about the attackers only after the police overpower them or eliminate them. So far the state government has not requested for any help from the Centre. If we receive any request from the state, we will provide whatever help is needed.”
Meanwhile, minister for state, health Suresh Shetty stated that directors and superintendents of major hospitals in the city have been informed to stay on duty and provide necessary medical assistance to the injured. “There is no shortage of medical facilities to take care of the victims of
the terror attack. The state is providing all the assistance,” said Mr Shetty.
The CM rushed from Kerala and said that if necessary even the Army would be called, but for the time being the police is taking care of the situation.
The chief secretary Johny Joseph said that more than 100 people have been injured. Meanwhile The navy commandos called Marcos rushed to Taj and managed to free over 250 hostages.



By our correspondents
Mumbai

Nov. 26: Two five-star hotels, the Oberoi and Taj Mahal are under siege at the time of going to print and gunmen are reported to have held occupants hostage. Reports say that 10 gunmen are holed up inside both the hotels and a blast occurred in the Taj at 12.15 am.
According to eyewitnesses, the two alleged terrorists are in their mid-twenties and they walked down from Leopold Restaurant in Colaba carrying AK-47 rifles and entered the Taj Mahal hotel. “On the way to the Taj, the terrorists who were unmasked were firing all the way to the hotel,” said eye witness.
At around 11.19 pm, there were sounds of two explosions. However, it was not clear whether it was due to the grenades that were thrown into the hotel. According to a doctor at the hotel, 5 people who were taken out of the hotel at that time, three were confirmed dead.
At around 10 pm, firing began both inside and outside the Taj Hotel. According to eyewitness Pranav Arora who saw and heard sparks and shots being fired outside the hotel, there was a lot of commotion at the entrance to the hotel and he saw a woman lying there for more that 15 to 20 minutes.
Three BDDS squads and special task force teams are fighting the terrorists inside the hotel, at the time of going to print. It is believed that there are live bombs in the hotel and one of the bombs was taken out to be diffused by the police.
Meanwhile, at the Oberoi Hotel, at around midnight, a team of commandos and fire engines arrived at the scene. The fire engines, at the time of going to press were still working at dousing the flames emanating from the lobby of the hotel, due to constant explosions.

By our correspondents
Mumbai

Nov. 26: Even as the police was reeling under the shock of some armed men firing indiscriminately into the crowds across the length and breadth of the Colaba tip of Mumbai came reports of blasts in different parts of the city.
The number of the blasts remained inconclusive with the Prime Minister’s office citing five blasts but Mumbai police saying there were just four blasts.
The Police said blasts took place in taxis at Vile Parle and Dockyard, one near CST station and a series of blasts at Oberoi hotel where the lobby was on fire for some period from the blasts.

Chhatrapati
shivaji terminus
The area around Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST) erupted into gunfire, when some men, armed with AK-47s and hand grenades stormed into CST and fired indiscriminately. A railway police officer said that at least 10 were dead and 30 injured in the firing. There were two blasts at CST, one at the corner of the subway near the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) building and one inside the station.
According to eyewitnesses, the men first moved into the area where the mainline trains depart and started firing alarming several Railway Protection Force (RPF) and railway police. At CST, shots were first heard at around 9.45 pm. On hearing gunshots, people began to run for cover and police officers moved in quickly. At the time of going to press, there was no official figure of the casualties but two terrorists were reportedly hauled up in the station. The police instructed people at the station, including The Asian Age’s Rajesh Jadhav, to stay low and lie down on the road between CST and the BMC building. They were taken to safety after a few minutes. Few minutes later, at approximately 10 pm, a hand grenade exploded near platform 15 (for outstation trains) of the station, causing people to flee.
“It was horrible. I had just missed the 9.51 pm Belapur local and was waiting for the Panvel train when I saw people rushing out of the mainline section of the station. We could clearly hear the gunshots. I don’t know how many have died but I saw some people being taken out by fellow passengers and the police,” said a panic-stricken Munnalal Kesarwani (47), a resident of Vashi who owns a shop on Fashion Street.
Eyewitnesses say that they saw five to six grenades explode, including two outside the station. Further, they said that several people were randomly fired at, in all directions.
Phalanxes of police officers were posted at each entry point to the station.

Vile Parle
A massive explosion inside a taxi driving towards Andheri near the Golden Swan Hotel on the Western Express Highway (WEH) at Vile Parle killed the three passengers including the driver instantly. The taxi no. MH-01-G-7792 split into two and most of its metallic parts and shrapnel fell almost 100 metres away.
The police said it is difficult to identify the number of the vehicle and from the hit the taxi received, the blast seemed suspicious. “The impact of a CNG cylinder would be far smaller than what we witnessed at Vile Parle,” said an officer. A Vile Parle resident Santosh Jadhav said that the impact of the explosion was such that it destroyed the tube lights of his house. Mr Arvind Mahajani, DCP, Zone 10, said, “The bodies have been sent to he forensic department to ascertain the type of explosives used.”

n Dockyard Road
Such was the extent of fraught nerves in the city that even a blast at Dockyard Road station due to the explosion of a gas cylinder in a taxi outside the station, seemed to be a terror attack. According to sources, the blast occurred at about 10.45 pm in which some bystanders were injured. No deaths have been reported.
However, the police is still not sure about the events at Dockyard because though it looked like a car blast, the injuries to hutments residing on the roadside and the damage to a truck parked nearby was extensive. It is unknown whether the cylinder blast was done on purpose or if it was just a one-off incident. An eyewitness said that people started running helter-skelter as soon as the blast occurred, the situation calmed down only when people learnt that the blast had occurred in the taxi.
There were three other blasts, one in Vile Parle, two at CST.

By our correspondentsMumbai
Nov. 26: Midnight started for the Mumbai police with the heartbreaking news that terrorists’ bullets had felled around seven of its policemen including senior officers of the Indian Police Services. Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) chief Hemant Karkare, additional commissioner of police, central region, Ashok Kamte, and encounter specialist, Vijay Salaskar were killed in a hail of bullets fired by the assailants.Karkare sustained bullet injuries on his chest near Cama Hospital, while Kamte and Salaskar were shot near Metro Cinema. They were declared dead soon after they were rushed to the hospital. There were reports of Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus railway police officer Shinde being killed in the firing at CST. The Mumbai police stunned by the turn of events late Wednesday evening started hitting back by midnight with reports of two terrorists being shot down and four apprehended by around 1 am. Two terrorists were killed near Girgaum Chowpatty, state CID commissioner D. Sivanandan confirmed. The two terrorists were speeding in a Skoda car when the police asked them to stop. The persons in the car did not do so upon which the police started firing, killing both the men inside. The police found two AK-47s and two revolvers in the car. Meanwhile there were reports of two terrorists being nabbed in Tardeo nearby. In another case, two terrorists fled away with a police van from the road near Metro Cinema. The van had still not been found till 1.30 am and the police soon declared alerted policemen to check even police vehicles on patrol. However, the police has been told to not approach these vans till their colleagues inside the van confirm their identity.Even as the Mumbai police was battling it out, 200 commandos from the National Security Guards and other crack units were on a flight to Mumbai.Additional commissioner of police, central region, Sadanand Date was grievously injured in the terror attack.

An unknown terror outfit identifying itself as Deccan Mujahideen claimed responsibility for the terror-raid on the city. In an email sent to various media houses, the outfit stated that the attack was revenge for the oppression of Muslims across the country.

Firings at:
n Taj Mahal
n Oberoi
n Leopold
n CST
n Metro Cinema
n Wadi Bandar
n Outside Vidhan Sabha
Blasts at:
n CST
n Vile Parle
n Dockyard Road station

Identity Rebirth

From the Portugese to the British. From seven islands to one thriving metropolis. Bombay to Mumbai. What so intrinsically pulls a city that deems to never stop functioning can inherently be found in the communities that weave the fabric of this teeming soul of human enterprise. A true microcosm to the diversity that India as a country entails.
Diverse ethnic backgrounds and over a dozen languages add to the interminable texture of phantasmagorial Mumbai.
If the Portuguese saw the potential of the city’s natural harbour, the fisherfolk had long discovered the shiny coastline. Celebrated author Salman Rushdie in his acclaimed book Midnight’s Children writes, “The fishermen were here first ... when Bombay was a dumbbell-shaped island tapering, at the centre, to a narrow shining strand beyond which could be seen the finest and largest natural harbour in Asia”. The Koli’s. The original inhabitants of these islands who gave the city its name. “They were the original inhabitants of Mumbai of course — earliest settlers in much the same way as the Red Indians of North America or the Maoris of New Zealand. In an anthropological sense, they made a significant contribution to Mumbai. Many were converted to East Indian Christians, but those who were educated went on to hold clerical posts in major civic bodies, including the BMC and the Port Trust,” says historian Sharada Dwivedi.
With the city’s itch to find its niche in the new world order, they now live a marginalised existence at the fringes of Mumbai. “Today, their situation is not encouraging. The government has done little to promote their trade. They face tremendous competition as exports of marine products grow. I think they themselves made the mistake of taking their incomes for granted,” says advocate Rajan Jayakar.
If the easily distinguishable and excitable Koli’s now find their settlements protected by law, can Sassoon dock be far behind? The Jewish communities, the
Baghdadi Jews and the
Bene-Israel have given the city many of its important landmarks. Mostly traders and financiers, the Baghdadi jews contribution to the industrial growth of Bombay is well documented.
David Sassoon, a member of the community is a well-known philanthropist. Post independence there has a continuous migration of the Baghdadi Jews to Israel leaving behind few yet a trail of majestic glory.
On the other hand, claiming to be descended from Jews who escaped persecution in Galilee in the 2nd century BC, the identity of the Bene-Israelis was eventually transformed when they came into contact with the Cochin Jews. Once they emigrated to Bombay, contact with the
Baghdadi Jews and the worldwide Zionist movement transformed their cultural identity. “The Bene-Israelis came to Mumbai much earlier. They immediately setup many textile mills, creating huge employment opportunities for the local people. But more important was the money they pumped into technical institutes, for both mechanics and school children. While the community itself doesn’t exist today, their legacy lives on through the many educational and research centres they set up,” says Dwivedi. This particular community opened our minds to the poet
Nissim Ezekiel.
While the Jews might have looked outward for the Promised Land, the Muslim community seemed to have eased themselves into the cacophony of the city. The
Bohras and the Khojas being the best known. “What these communities had in their favour was the fact that when they first came into Mumbai from Gujarat, they had protection from conversion. The British at the time gave them complete freedom to practise whatever faith they chose to. They are the earliest migrants from Gujarat to Mumbai. As traders, they set about building a vast network of textile mills. Their contribution to the history of Mumbai is manifested in the opportunities they created from a large number of people.” Says Dwivedi.
“The northern end of the fort, near the present day
general post office is still called Bora Bazaar, after the large numbers of Bohras who set up shops there. With increasing wealth, some Bohras moved out of business and into other professions, just as some
Parsis did at the same time,” says Jayakar.
And there has never been a more integrated community than the Parsis that has captured the spirit of this definition defying city. Zoroastrian Persians migrated to India after the fall of the Sassanian Empire, and gave rise to the modern Indian Parsi community. The first record of a Parsi, Dorabji Nanabhai, settling in Bombay dates from 1640. And ever since the Parsis are intimately connected with the history of Bombay. “The
cotton boom was largely fuelled by Parsi entrepreneurs. The oldest newspaper in Bombay, "Bombay Samachar", was run by Parsis.
Congress stalwarts like
Dadabhai Naoroji,
Pherozeshah Mehta and Dinshaw Wacha were Parsis. One of India's biggest industrial houses was founded by a Parsi, Jamsetji Tata. Even the physical shape of Bombay was determined by donations to build causeways, roads and buildings by members of the Jeejeebhoy and Readymoney families,” says Mr Gorakshkar, retired head of the Prince of Wales Museum.
“Like the Parsis, the Pathare Prabhus have been stagnant. Today the community will not be more than 10,000 although it is now growing. Because of other more adventurous communities like the Parsis, the Pathare Prabhus are is not as well known. Moreover it was a community of professionals like architects, lawyers and doctors rather than businessmen. Pathare Prabhus are a community that came to Mumbai around 1294 from a place called Pathan in Gujurat,” says Jayakar.
“A lot has changed in the community in the last 60 years. The culture has become diluted so much so that it has to be taught now,” says Mr Gorakshkar.
With the heady mélange of ethnic, linguistic and religious diversity, to the vibrant influence of the new and the old, the affluence and abject poverty — this is the Mumbai we love. This is the Mumbai we’ve lived. It’s everyone’s representation of the city. And the city’s representation of its people. Mumbai mere jaan.