World | India
Defiant commuters return to trains
They were the same rickety trains, rolling along the same tracks, carrying the same people - millions of Mumbai residents who a day earlier had been targeted in a series bombings.
- AP
- Published: 00:00 July 12, 2006
Mumbai: They were the same rickety trains, rolling along the same tracks, carrying the same people - millions of Mumbai residents who a day earlier had been targeted in a series bombings.
As the death toll from Tuesday's eight explosions rose to at least 200, Mumbai's transport lifeline flowed again, the tracks cleared of debris and platforms cleaned of blood.
Stunned and scared, Mumbai residents nonetheless returned to the trains. Some said they were determined not to be cowed, others said they had no choice.
"Of course, I'm a bit scared," said Anita Dey, a bank teller waiting for her train on Wednesday evening at the busy Khar, the scene of one of the attacks.
"But I decided I had to overcome my fears and get back on the train," said the diminutive woman in a black and red cotton sari.
"Mumbai?s trains are more than mere transport. They are a part of our lives." For Brijesh Ojha, a 35-year-old security guard, the difference a day made was stark.
He spent Tuesday night pulling bloodied bodies from the twisted wreckage of a train torn apart by a bomb.
On Wednesday he was riding again. "What can we do in this city, trains are the lifeline," Ojha said.
While most first-class compartments, where the bombs were placed, were only about half full, lower class compartments were as crowded as usual on Wednesday.
Some passengers hailed the spirit of Mumbai's residents in time of crisis.
People from all walks of life reached out to help each other, said Deepa Kumar, who commutes more than an hour each way to her office in downtown Mumbai.
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