Tuesday night was a hectic one, ever since we came to know about the blasts in Mumbai...

Are we, as a nation, doing enough to root terrorism out of our midst?
Tuesday night was a hectic one, ever since we came to know about the blasts in Mumbai. At a macro level, there was all that spilt blood with a story of its own of a nation's security ripped apart. At a micro level, we were frantically trying to contact our colleagues in the Mumbai branch. After many hours, we could learn that our manager Navin Thakkar had suffered injuries in the blast. Other staff members were safe. Boss called me over the intercom and said, "Urgent!" I dashed in, and said, before he could ask me, "Sir, I'll go to Mumbai."
I had visited the branch last year, after the floods, if you remember ('How to ensure business continuity despite deluge,' August 15, 2005). This time, my top priority was the well-being of my colleagues, and so I headed straight to the ward where Navin had been admitted.
As providence would have it, Navin was among the lucky few who suffered minor injuries. But more than the suffering that the shrapnels caused him, Navin was deep in the trauma of having witnessed horrific deaths right in front of his eyes. When I met him, he sat up to narrate the sequence of events that was so vivid in his memory, and had so deeply scarred his sensitivities. Within a few minutes, however, the sedative that the doctor had administered took control, and Navin fell asleep.
Already, the city was back on its toes, with trains full, and almost everybody was at work. Business as usual, it seemed, and that was a reassuring thought. But what pained me was the nagging thought that we, as a nation, aren't apparently doing enough to root terrorism out of our midst. Send in your thoughts by Friday.

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