A close attack

Last night several touristy and busy places in Mumbai, India, were attacked by a so-called Islamic and Pakistani group. Over 100 people died and many others were injured. When I first heard the news my heart shrank. I know people, very nice people in Mumbai, with whom I shared good (and bad) moments, with whom I ate chapattis, saffron rice, fish curry and banana chips and who wandered with me in the sidewalk next to the sea and held me close in those full as-no-one-else-can-fit trains.
I’ve seen how busy these places get and how many people roam in the streets at every hour of the day and night. I also saw the shiny faces and the dark, vivid eyes of Indian people, their gigantic and welcoming smiles and their struggle to survive everyday life. I know the places where the bombs exploded and the guns were fired… I walked in front of the Taj Mahal Hotel and I drank beer in Cafe Leopold. Some of the people I love in this world live there, in a frantic and amazing city that almost doubles the size of Portugal in number of inhabitants. That’s why the bombs felt so close… pieces of me are still there.

The Taj Mahal Hotel and the Gate of India seen from the Arabian sea (January 2007)

Sunset over Mumbai, seen from the Arabian sea near the Gate of India (January 2007)

In situations of unknown places being under attack, even though they don’t feel this close, I always think how idiots human beings can be by putting their resources at the service of suffering, destruction and death of innocent people. I always wonder if terrorists ever think of how they would feel if a bomb would fall on the heads of their beloved…