Day After, a City Calm & Numb

It was an unusual experience for the usually bustling Zaveri Bazaar. At 6.45 pm on Thursday, 24 hours after a bomb blast rocked the area, curious workers and residents of the area peered from surrounding windows and balconies, trying to catch a glimpse of the explosion site. “We have been working here for years, but today the usual noise and people are missing,” said a worker from the Bank of India building, which is close to the blast site.

At Opera house, too, locals tried to contend with the need to resume business. Shop owners were reluctantly pulling up their shutters around 6 pm and taxi drivers, drawing courage from each other, were back on the streets in the latter part of the day. But what lingered on were the dreadful scenes of the previous night . “What I’ve seen, I never want to see again. I’m lucky to be alive and I’m seriously considering moving back home,” said Danesh Shah from Ahmedabad, who works in Roxy Cinema. Click Here!

“Today, when the clock struck 7 pm, a sense of fear crept up on me. We were all helpless yesterday and did not know what had happened. At first, we thought it was a cylinder explosion, but when we saw smoke rising, we knew something was wrong,” said Santosh Khair, a resident of Kaburkhana in Dadar West.

While at least four points leading to the blast site at Zaveri Bazaar had been cordoned off due to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit on Thursday evening, the adjoining areas had turned into a tourist attraction. All lanes leading to the site were choc-a-bloc with people. “This is the third blast we’ve had to deal with in this area. Today, it has turned into a tourist destination,” said Rabi Patra, a worker who makes gold and silver jewellery.