As the terror drama unfolded in Mumbai, social networkers and bloggers rapidly posted pictures of the ongoing events and sent sms-es over phone to whet the growing hunger for information and reports of live unedited action.
Vinukumar Raganathan, who lives close to the Nariman House in Mumbai, posted pictures of the airdropping of the NSG commandos on his blog.
"It was early morning when I heard loud sounds. I just grabbed the camera and took my bike out to the place. The area is densely populated and a residential one. There were probably only 10 cops or so."
"I was standing in a petrol bunk close by and saw the commandos being airdropped, the copters landing on the makeshift helipad. The focus of the action was on the two hotels and not many people were around the Nariman House."
Nariman House is one of the three places where terrorists were holed up. The other two being the luxury hotels -- the Taj and the Trident-Oberoi.
Others like Vikas Goyal used the opportunity to send out sms which read, "Enough is enough. The terrorists have not only attacked Mumbai but our national pride."
Comments ranged from discussions on the perpetrators to answering queries on the helplines and persons that relatives and friends can contact to get more details.
An sms paid tribute to the slain Mumbai police officers. "Thousand salutes to Mr Hemant Karkara, Mr Vijay Salaskar and Mr Ashok Kamte. Please pay homage to our great warriors. Send this to all Indians," it said. Another one circulating questioned the whereabouts of those behind the recent anti-north Indian and Bihari agitations in Mumbai. "Your Mumbai needs you for fighting against the 'real outsiders,'" it read. In blogosphere, Ajmer Alam writes in GroundReport.com, "Over the past year, India has become a testing area for terrorists. They plan and execute and if it works then similar attacks can be planned in some other parts of the world. In such circumstances a question arises: who is the winner? And the answer is of course the terrorists. They killed the man they wanted, ATS chief. They got their attention world wide. Actually the strategy of the terrorist has changed in recent years. These attempts are focused on destabilizing the economy of India which is gaining strength worldwide," the blogger posted. Raganathan, posted over 100 pictures of the events on Thursday and said "Twitter is like a sms blog confined to 120 characters and used mainly by people for a personal connect. It is just like talking on the phone and have online conversations. I started around three years ago and a lot of people follow me now. These pictures I posted can be seen by these people as well as those to whom they are forwarded." Twitter also had snippets of information requesting information like "RT: Mr Rohinton Mallo's wife is waiting near the Oberoi for any information on him. Call Padmanabhn or Alok," with telephone numbers.
