Violence and loss: Mumbai responds
Mumbai residents struggle to cope with three violent strikes that left at least 18 dead and 41 injured.
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| Mahant Mandal holds a photograph of his brother Kishan Mandal, after his death in a bomb blast on Wednesday [AFP] |
Indian security forces remain on high alert after three co-ordinated explosions rocked Mumbai on Wednesday night.
But even as investigations are ongoing into the attacks, for which no group has yet claimed responsibility, Thursday has also been a day of cremations, funerals and mourning in the city.
The attacks – which have killed at least 18 and injured 41 – have left Mumbai residents and merchants defiant or on edge, while some seem resigned to being the targets of such blasts, as they have been in the past:
| Yesh Gandhi, eyewitness at the Dadar blast |
The blast was so huge that even the shops on the other side of road (from it) …got damaged…I was in a state of shock…the noise and the blast were so huge that for a couple of moments, I was astonished.
| Dilip Sangwai, local resident |
I think the market will remain closed for three to four days. Nobody will come to the market. Everybody is scared of death. It is a very sad day.
| Abdul Karim, Mumbai resident |
What do we adults tell our children. Our children think that these adults are mad, why do they kill innocent
people? I have no answer for my child when he asks me these questions. They ask what does the government do? Do they provide security only to the VIPs with beacon lights on their cars? For the common man there is no security at all.
When we leave our homes in the morning our family is not sure if we will come back alive in the evening. What do we tell our family and our children? If we can’t even answer our children what else can we do?
| Manish, local merchant whose office is close to one of the blast sites |
If they go to a small town and break everything, nothing will happen. What they want is to break the
financial hub, break the backbone of the people and they will come crawling to us – that’s what their motto is.
| Mushtaq Hussain, Mumbai resident |
Whatever is happening is not correct. All those who are perpetrating such blasts are doing a wrong deed. Nobody knows what they want by killing people. Innocent people are getting killed in such attacks. I do not know what the police and the investigative agencies are doing in protecting the people.
| Sachin, local resident |
We have become used to blasts and militant strikes. Bomb blasts have become a routine affair in the city. They are no longer a novelty for us.
| Mohan Dutta, local resident |
The people of Mumbai have proved time and again that we can never be cowed down by such acts of extremism. We will carry on with our daily lives no matter what happens. This is why, students are going to schools, housewives are coming to local shops to buy milk, and life has returned to normal in Mumbai.
| Sunil Kumar |
Whatever has happened is very bad. It is very bad for country and Mumbai. It is hair-raising incident. I am very scared by it.