Can there be music in any heart when my city has been ripped apart? My heart sank the moment I returned from the gym around 10:15 PM on Wednesday evening. No sooner had I settled myself in my bedroom, I received an SMS from another MouthShut employee informing me of "...some blast at the Taj".

Our company was preparing to host a delegation of twenty-five American educationists and they were to stay at the Taj from Saturday, November 29. To finalize all arrangements for the delegation one of my staff and I were to meet a Sr. Manager at Taj over dinner at 9:30 PM. Due to a personal issue (read below) the meeting was postponed for the next morning.

Then reports started pouring in about gun-fires and blasts from across the city. The brazen attack at CST (Formerly VT station) convinced me that what was unfolding is a systematic and barbaric terror attack on my beloved city.

I then called up my wife (who was recuperating in a hospital in Bandra) and asked her to follow the news.

I will post more thoughts and personal opinions in separate posts, but one immediate thought that has been hounding me was the need for our government to equip our police and other forces with modern weapons, sophisticated life-protection gear and better training to deal with challenges that are destroying our cities.

I hope and pray that we all join the efforts in defeating these terrorists in our own little ways.

With prayers and deep sorrow,

--Faisal