I had left home in Versova, in suburban Mumbai, at 11:30 am. Whereas it usually takes about an hour to reach Mahim on a normal weekday, this Thursday it took less than thirty minutes.
But the suburbs were, at least, functioning: milk-wallahs and newspaper-wallahs peddled their wares; children - schools and colleges were closed throughout the city - played in their gardens; and old men sat roadside sipping chai and smoking beedies, like any other day.
Heading south from Mahim, however, the vibe changed distinctly. Laughter was muted, dilly-dallying was nil. People moved with their heads down, concentrated on getting from point A to point B as quickly as possible.
We traveled to CST, the scene of carnage less than 24 hours ago, by train. Even the second class men's compartments - notorious for being some of the most boisterous and overcrowded in the world - were oddly unoccupied, with plenty of seats available and room to breathe. We reached by around 1:30 pm.
Though travelers moved to and fro, CST itself was more a mortuary than a bustling train station. Railway police, placed prominently throughout the terminus, had eyes on the entire building. NSG and army forces could be seen on the street, automatic weapons in hand. It was more like war-torn Beirut or Baghdad than the Bombay I'd fallen in love with over the past two years.
CS Mudgerikar, Chief Public Relations Officer for Mumbai's Central Railway, gave a harrowing account of what had happened in CST the night before. He said two terrorists, armed with AK 56 assault rifles and hand grenades, entered at around 9:55 pm IST and began firing indiscriminately and tossing hand grenades.
In this photo: National Security Guard forces take to the streets of South Mumbai
Photograph: Ritam Banerjee/Getty Images
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