Desi Dialogues

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India's financial capital, Mumbai, is still reeling from the aftermath of the terror attacks that left the city shaken, angry and above all determined to do something about it.

The attacks on the city and its historical structures, such as the glorious Taj Mahal hotel, were an attack on the collective psyche of the Indian public. For those who aren't aware of its history, the Taj has been symbolic of the pride Indians feel about their country and their culture. It was just opposite the Taj - the Gateway of India - from where the last boat of the British Empire left the country. The Taj itself was built in 1903 after Jamshedji Tata was refused entry to one of the city's grand hotels �­- Watson's Hotel - as it was restricted to whites only.

Today, people all over Mumbai come to see the grandeur of the Taj. And I have been told through several e-mails, as well as through news articles and blogs from around the world that it was the staff at the Taj that saved the lives of so many people when the terrorists stormed the hotel and indiscriminately fired upon them.

It was not the top officials as much as the waiters or a concierge or a junior employee who hid the people and turned out the lights in the massive hotel so that the terrorists would not catch them. Blogs from across the globe have saluted these people and we hope they truly derive the blessings of the hundreds of guests whose lives were saved because of them.

But I lost somebody in the attacks, as did many Torontonians.

My husband's friend was killed at the Taj, as was an old fried I knew growing up in India. I have received several e-mails from relatives of friends in Canada who escaped from the Taj and the Trident, the sister hotel of another top hotel where terrorists were holed up for over 36 hours.

But what I am most relieved about is that the Chief Minister (similar in title to Premier) of the Maharashtra state Vilasrao Deshmukh was forced to resign in wake of the attacks. Top Indian officials at the intelligence bureau told the Mumbai police that there would be an attack and that it would target a top hotel and the attackers would come by sea. And because of their apathy in not listening to intelligence reports as recently as eight days prior to the attack, hundreds of lives were taken.

Some reports suggest the people who carried out the attacks were from Pakistan. Apparently, evidence that was gained from intercepted calls and from interrogation of the captured assailants allegedly points to a terror group operating out of Pakistan. The Indian public is furious, mainly with the politicians, who have not been able to handle this situation, because they want the vote from India's teeming population of Muslims.

In trying to appease the Muslim vote the congress government had done an injustice to the people of India - be they Muslim or Hindu. And it's not about being Hindu or Muslim in India. It's about saying what is right and at times doing what's right even if it angers a sector of the public.

This marks the one-week anniversary of the event and thousands of people in Mumbai have rallied together, across the metropolis with candlelight vigils, showing their solidarity to the people of India and the Mumbaites.

May I say that growing up in India, I never once felt unsafe, never once heard what a terrorist was and never once felt scared about being in India. I think my friends in India are not sure they live in a safe place anymore, and that is truly sad.