The Day The World Stopped: Surviving the Mumbai Bombings

Bombed Train at the Borivli station. Courtesy of www.timesofindia.com

The earth shook, I felt I was punched by a huge iron fist and then everything went black

Mumbai's survivors , India

Date Posted: 07/18/06

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July 11 will be remembered as Black Tuesday for the residents of Mumbai

At 6:24 p.m., the Matunga, Mahim, Bhayandar, Jogeshwari, Khar, Borivali and Mira Road local rail platforms were jam-packed with commuters clambering onto trains to get home. Few of them survived. Eight blasts tore through Mumbai's western suburban train network on Tuesday evening, killing over 200 people and injuring close to 800. The bombings were over in a span of eleven 11 minutes, but it left behind in its wake, a memory so harrowing that it will take the people of Mumbai as well as the rest of the country, years to put it behind.

Orato Special Correspondent Arpita Sutradhar was in New Delhi when the blasts tore through the heart of Mumbai. She immediately called two people she knew; one was social worker Bilash K. and the other was Ganesh Krishanji Sovani, a well-known law practitioner in Mumbai. They gave her a vivid picture of what had happened. Bilash was especially helpful collecting eyewitness accounts from some of the survivors at Matunga, while Ganesh Sovani witnessed the fatal incident at Borivili station.

The harrowing experiences of some Mumbai's survivors are reported to Arpita Sutradhar in this special report for Orato.

Bilash K, a young and energetic man in his early thirties loves to spend time with street children. At one his visits to the nearby slums at Matunga on the evening of July 11 he heard about the blast. Shortly after the explosion, he received my phone call, then hurried to Matunga station to see if he could help the wounded. He was just staggered by the immensity of the loss around him. The two powerful blasts had reduced the station to a war-zone. Many lost their entire families. Limbs and body parts were scattered about in such a manner that it was impossible to identify a certain body. He spoke to several survivors at the station, 35 minutes after the blast. Here are their stories:

Rinku Dutta, 30, freelance artist: When I reached the Matunga railway station, it was difficult to recognize the station as it had been in the morning. I was supposed to take the train that ended up being bombed, but Providence saved me. I was entering the station to take the train when my cell phone rang. It was Mini, the friend I was taking the train to visit that evening, apologizing because she would not be able to get home early since she had some urgent work to do. I was naturally a bit upset. I had been looking forward to a fun evening. So I decided to walk around a bit and then go home. It was then I heard the big explosion and ran back to the station.

When I saw the blast wreckage, I was speechless and my body was shaking. The First Class compartment had been blown up like popcorn. I thank God and Mini for giving me a new life.