Brain Stormer: 7/11: The Forgotten Date

July 11 came and went. There was a short memorial service, and a report or two tucked away in the inside pages of the newspaper. But that’s about it. For the most part, it was like any other day. Evidently, the public had not just moved on but even forgotten about what was one of the worst terror attacks that India had suffered. On July 11, 2006, the Indian Mujahideen terror group exploded a series of seven bombs over a period of just 11 minutes on the Western line of Mumbai's Suburban Railway system.

The blasts began shortly after evening rush-hour. At 6.20 pm, the first bomb went off between Khar and Santa Cruz stations in the First Class compartment of a train going from Churchgate to Borivali. Then there were six more explosions  -- on Bandra-Khar Road, Jogeshwari-Mahim Junction, Mira Road- Bhayander, Matunga- Mahim Junction and Borivali. More than 700 were injured and some 200 people killed. In fact, one victim passed only  six months ago, after being in coma for this nine years.

Only the 1996 Bombay bombings had claimed more lives (more than 250 dead), and till date, 7/11 remains the most lethal of all Indian Mujahideen attacks. Even the 26/11 attack, spread over a period of three days, didn't spill as much blood. This might sound odd given that so often 26/11 is described as 'India's 9/11' -- that one landmark attack which would change (or not so much) the way we look at terror and counter-terror operations etc -- but it is what it is. Perhaps because 26/11 saw iconic hotels and cafes, frequented by the elite and the rich being targeted, and the nation's financial capital being under siege for three days, that it emerged as the bigger shock to our national conscience.

While the 2006 attacks were in a sense limited in its scope, and those who were targeted being the aam aadmi, it has been easy to write it off and somehow just forget about it. But while it's easy to use this excuse to blame the establishment or the media, there is no looking away from the fact that such is the state of affairs also because the public itself doesn't care -- human life in this country of a billion plus people is cheap, and public memory awfully short.