While Mumbai was being attacked…….

While Mumbai was being attacked…….

Islamabad, 26 November 2008: I just returned to my room after dinner, played some card games with my players for passing time and checking my mails. I watched a Hindi movie on TV for some time and guess around 11 pm when I switched to the local English News Channel ‘the Dawn’ where they reported some kind of a terrorist attack in Mumbai without much detail.  I guess it’s how we Indians have become, getting used to the terrorist attacks so very often that sometimes we don’t take it seriously. They dint have much details about it and I too just rubbed it off as another ‘small time’ attack and wondering why people do this. I was sleepy and it dint take me much time to hit the bed as a rock.

When I woke up the next morning on 27^th Nov, I dint even remember the news item last night and didn’t switch on the TV. When I had showered and breakfast was served, I happened to switch on the TV casually and I was dumbstruck at what was being shown on TV, Mumbai was literally under siege! I couldn’t believe what I was watching. Mumbai was live on TV channels in Pakistan. I watched it for 30 min but then I had to leave for the players’ practice and matches.

I came out of the room and I can still remember the shock on Satyajit Burman’s (father of shivika Burman) face as he saw me and said, “did you watch the TV?” I said yes and were like ‘What do we do’? He had already received the first call from his wife back in Kolkata and she wanted them to get back immediately. I knew calls would now start for me too as I was traveling with four players and there were nearly twelve Indian girls playing the ITF Women’s 10,000 tournaments.

As the thought occurred, the first call came and one of the parents asked me if everything was ok. I did say yes and we were ok but many thoughts occurred to my mind too. All these Indian players were in Islamabad for an opportunity to participate in the International tournaments. This was bang in the middle of the first tournament and we had one more to go after this.

The front office manager Mr. Usman walked up to us and shared his concern over what’s happening at Mumbai. He meant when he said it’s very unfortunate and both our countries continue to be attacked like this. We thanked him for his concern and we ventured out together to the venue which was a 10 min walk from the Hotel Embassy Lodge where we stayed.

The walk was on a street which had no traffic as such and it was a forest area. As we reached the Pakistan Tennis Federation complex, the organizers were there to tell us that they were very sorry to hear what had happened at Mumbai. They were indeed sad for what had happened.  Many of the visitors and parents of local players all came and spoke to us. All the Indian players had heard about the attack by now. We all had a strange feeling in us and it was definitely uncomfortable.  Once we reached the venue around 8 am, we dint have any updates as there was no TV or internet at the venue until we returned to the hotel in the eve.

However the whole day, we were receiving calls from India as they were all scared and rightly! We were asked to return immediately and there was a reason for them to feel this way. We were in an ‘enemy’ territory as far as India was concerned. Incidentally, when we switched on the news in the evening, we were surprised to see the fight still on. Believe me, the discussions on the local TV channels were why these attacks were going on and almost all the speakers were saddened with the developments. On the other hand, the Indian Government had started blaming Pakistan for the attack. This made us feel more insecure. This is when I decided to call my good friend Mr. Tirumurti, who is a joint Secretary with Ministry of External affairs (MEA) at New Delhi. He sounded encouraging and asked us not to worry. As helpful as always, he said he would talk with his colleague in the Indian High Commission at Islamabad and make them talk to us.  We all did offer prayers to the victims of the Mumbai attack and it wasn’t easy for us to sleep thinking about the happenings at Mumbai.  24 hr had passed and still the scene was scary.  I watched TV till late night watching the live happenings from Mumbai. By now, the discussions had turned into a fight on TV between the countries. On the other hand, we were under pressure to return home as lot of things were being said including a rumor that all travel between the two countries would be stopped and maybe India would attack Pakistan!

But to say truthfully, we never felt scared being there. People there were extremely nice.  They were concerned and apologetic about Mumbai. Whoever knew we were Indians, came up to us and spoke not just in the venue but even the taxi drivers and other people on the street. But I totally understand the concern back home what our families had.

I think it was a day later when India’s home Minister was replaced and Mr. Chidambaram was given the charge. I immediately called Karthi Chidambaram, Mr. Chidambaram’s son who is a close friend of mine and requested him to keep us informed if he got to know if there were any decisions that would be taken with regards to the relation between the two countries.  Incase if the borders would be closed or anything like that, we had to return immediately. The same day, I also received a call from the first officer of the Indian High Commission at Islamabad, Mr. Reddy who told me be relaxed and also tell that to everyone. The only caution he had is that we shouldn’t venture out anywhere as tempers between the two nations were high.  He said he would drop in to meet us in a day or two. He did drop in 2 days later and met all the Indians in the tournament.

Now I have to tell you about the common people in Islamabad. Have you ever heard of a poor taxi driver refusing to take money from you because you are a Hindustani? Have you heard of a shop keeper refusing to take money from you because you are a Hindustani? Have you heard of a manager In a big showroom walking up to you as soon as he could make out that you were a Hindustani and offering you soft drinks and a flat 50% on whatever we purchase? Yes, we experienced all these in Islamabad. We were their ‘mehmaan’ (guests) in their nation and more than that, “brothers’ for them. Yes, this is what they said and they would say, “when we have a guest at home, we don’t take money from them for anything” This is the greatness of common Pakistani people. They love Indians. They want a good relation with us. Someone even mentioned that partition was the worst thing to happen between the two countries. Most of them even said that the tension between the two countries only helped interests of other powerful nations.

 Major Rashid, Hon. Secretary General of Pakistan Tennis Federation even went to the extent of saying that it could be true that someone from Pakistan was probably involved in the attacks in Mumbai but this was more of poor people being ‘used’ by some organizations which were formed by powerful nations and the same organizations are against Pakistan also! It could be true!

One more interesting thing, we were on our way back from Islamabad to New Delhi at the end of second tournament. We had a flight from Islamabad to Lahore and a connecting flight to Delhi was six hours later. We decided to venture out into Lahore to see the city. We then decided that we visit Wagah Border from the Pakistan side. Though I had visited the border from Amritsar, none of the others had seen it. We took two taxis from the airport and drove to Wagah only to be told that the border opens for visitors only at 4 pm with tickets (for the drill) and we were there at around 11 am! We had 4 hours for our next flight. We told them we just wanted to see the border and about our flight back. The army people at the border directed us to an Army base a few hundred meters away and said they could allow us only if we had the permission of the Colonel or the Major who were the bosses there. We decided to take a chance and I went to the reception and said I was here to meet one of them for the permission. Ten minutes later, I was escorted to the Major’s office (pity I don’t remember his name now). He was a young man probably in his late thirties. He welcomed me so warmly into his office and said it was an ‘honor’ for him to give us the permission to visit the border but on one condition! He wanted to host lunch for us as it was first time in his tenure there, a ‘Hindustani’ had visited his office!!!  I excused saying that we had only 3 ½ hr to catch our flight and this gave us 30 min to spend at the border and we would have to drive back for little more than a hour. He said he would arrange an escort for us to reach the airport and we would not miss out flight. But I thanked him for his extreme hospitality and then we chatted about Cricket for 5 min. Sachin Tendulkar was his favorite Cricketer! When I got up to take leave, he went around in his office to find a gift for me but he wasn’t able to find a new Pen that he had kept somewhere! The permission was probably a bigger gift at that moment! Seriously, I never expected to get it. We then visited the border and it was a great experience for me to see the border from the other side but for the others, Satyajit Burman, Shivika, Kescia, Anushree, Prerana & Prarthana, it was probably the most memorable experience!  About 4 hr later, when we landed in Delhi, I actually felt I was in India last 15 days and was just in another state.

Though, the whole of India had an anti Pakistan feeling (evident from the TV reports), the common man in Pakistan had only ‘Love’ for us. After all, the Major at the Wagah Border was also a human being!

I understand there are tensions between the two countries mainly due to Kashmir region and at the level of the Governments. But the common people of Pakistan are extremely warm and hospitable. If there was a period when I felt proud to be an Indian, it was during my stay at Pakistan during that fortnight and mainly because our brethren on the streets of Pakistan made me feel like that.

Going though this experience, it makes me wonder why the tensions between the two nations can’t be resolved amicably and easily. If left to the people of the two countries, it may be easier!

From all of my trips to nearly twenty countries, this has certainly been the most special one!