Collective Courage: Q&A with Ankur Vikal

Hi, everyone! I’ve been gone for a while now and as the start of term gets closer and closer, I’ve been occupied with society work, spending time with my parents and mostly just trying to develop a few good habits that’ll have a beneficial impact in the long run.

Enough of that. This blog post, I felt I wanted to focus on a topic that is discussed on the news everyday: terrorism. However, this isn’t a typical article on the threats that face the world. I’ve written this post to talk about a much ignored part of an attack that is rarely covered by the popular media outlets and focused on much lesser and that is how the city and its people have healed and reacted years on after the incident.

Being an Indian, the 26/11 attack that took place on the 26^th of November, 2008 is one that hits closest to my heart as I was old enough by then to understand the seriousness of the situation and having always had a soft spot for Mumbai, I decided to choose this one for the purpose of this post. If you have not heard of the attacks or have forgotten about the atrocities that took place, here’s the link.

To do that, however, I needed an opinion of a person who has lived in Mumbai for a long time and still does. Hence, I interviewed a very close family member of mine, my mom’s brother, Ankur Vikal. He’s an actor who’s acted in a lot of movies, too many for me to list here, but a few being, Striker, Missed Call, Slumdog Millionaire, Phobia and Points of Origin.

On the day, Ankur was with a group of French friends as he was showing them the sights of Bombay (previous name of Mumbai), especially the south. As time crept on and it became later in the afternoon, they walked from the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus towards the Flora Fountain and finally reaching the Khadi Gram Udoyog Bhavan, where his friends engaged in souvenir shopping such as Kurtas while he bought a small Indian flag for himself. Finishing up, they went to Leopold Café in Colaba, a popular destination in Mumbai. As he finished his boiled egg and his friends had drowned their beers, they packed up and set off on their journey home.

Only as they were on their way back, did they realize how fortunate they had been. “Around the time the attacks started, I was clueless about them. We were in a taxi heading back to North Bombay where we all stayed. I didn’t have a smart phone then. I only knew about the attacks and how narrowly I had missed each of them, after I got home.” But what especially gripped me about his story was the sheer coincidence: “There were attacks at literally each place we were at that day.”

Well, during such a tragic event, most of us would feel scared and be afraid to step out. However, taking his own stand, Ankur did the exact opposite and showed courage against the people who tried to disrupt the spirit of the city he called home:

 

“Later, I stepped out to go for a film screening at Cinemax, Versova. I was invited and I felt obliged to attend it. I also didn’t want a few bullies to manage to intimidate me, I guess.”

 

The film was however stopped halfway and all the show goers sent home. To this day, when Ankur recalls the events, he reminds himself of how lucky he got. “I was just plain lucky, to still be alive.”

As I got to know all about the day itself, I wanted to focus more on Mumbai and mainly about its people. As I asked Ankur on this, he told me, “The people here are brave. They have no choice I guess. It is the largest city in the country.”.

Mumbai has always been a hard working city with people from all over India but the factor that is unique to it is that it holds together no matter how many times it is tried to be ripped apart.

 

“People come here to make it. A lot of my friends are from various parts of the country. They are away from their families. I saw the city come together as one organism that night. One cohesive unit. Feeling together.”

 

But with every man and woman who stood up and took a stand, there were the other half, who wondered how safe Mumbai really was. Ankur’s thoughts provided an equal and well balanced analysis to both the sets of reactions that take place after such a massive day takes place in a metropolitan. “People became scared because they felt the government couldn’t protect them or their loved ones”.

 

“If push came to shove, it was each one for themselves.”

 

He believes that a large portion of people still feel the same way. “We are still vulnerable. Although there are metal detectors and frisking outside each building and each hotel. There is no feeling of safety really. I don’t know why.”.

Mumbai possesses a very large population and recently, the government has taken decisions that are questionable. “The cops in Bombay are very good but I guess there are too many people. The government meanwhile, is doing stupid things like banning beef. Bombay is imploding with an influx of more and more people each day.”

The landmarks that were bombarded reacted in two polar opposite ways as well. The Taj Hotel and the Oberoi, representing one end of the spectrum, renovated themselves, removing all signs of the attack. The Leopold Café left the bullet holes intact. However, the interesting fact isn’t the fact that whether one landmark repaired itself or not.

The fact is that right from the year 2000, Mumbai alone has been a victim of 8 attacks. Yet after each and every cut, bruise and wound, it has picked itself up and started again. The Leopold Café was fully operational FOUR days after the attack. Parts of the Taj Hotel were operational on the 21^st of December, less than a month after the attack. This kind of spirit is extremely commendable and what makes Mumbai the city it is today. Ankur is still surprised every time he looks back at it.

 

“I was overwhelmed by the spirit of the people. I started viewing it with much more love. This has happened each time after a crisis.”

 

Finishing up with all the questions I had for Ankur, I had finally comprehended the spirit not only the people of Mumbai hold, but also the emotional strength of the citizens of every major city that suffers from the terrible fate of these instances of inhumanity. The sheer courage in getting up the next morning and carrying on with one’s day is a commendable task that cities world over pull off with the utmost ease. This is the only message I wanted to get through this article. Don’t let occurrences that are taking place world over stop you as doing that will only help accomplish what was the aim of these attacks. Get up and tackle the world like we do every day. Show the despicable organizations of this world that nothing can stop you. Nothing can stop US.

Well, as for Mumbai, in the words of my own Maama (mom’s brother):

 

“It must be the millions of Gods we have that keep Mumbai going”

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Thank you all for reading my fourth blog post! If you all liked it, then please do let me know in the comments and if you all have any suggestions, do let me know those too! Hope it was a good read J