Multiple bombings in Mumbai!!

Don't worry...I'm okay.

Multiple bombs hit Mumbai on Wednesday, 7/13/2011, during the evening rush hour. The three near-simultaneous explosions happened near the Mumbadevi temple in the Zaveri Bazaar area (6:54 PM), in the Diamond Market area near the Royal Opera House (6:55 PM), and in the Dadar West area of central Mumbai (7:04 PM). As you can see in the map, Dadar is more central and the Opera House and Zaveri Bazaar are more southern. Because I worked PST hours, I was already in the office at this time. And, lucky for us, we were located in northern Mumbai. At 7:53 PM, I got the first notification from Travel Security Online (International SOS) about the bombings...less than an hour after it happened. Not too shabby. Within minutes, it was all over the news (headlining CNN) and the emails/instant messages/texts came flowing.

"Coordinated attack by terrorists" is what the Home Minister told reporters. The blast in Dadar, although not very powerful, happened in a very crowded area with lots of shops and residential buildings. The blast in the Zaveri Bazaar was stronger. The timing of the blasts, at the height of the evening rush hour, was supposedly designed to cause maximum panic and casualties. The police cordoned off the affected locations, and the government issued a high alert.

At least 20 people were killed and 113 others injured in three serial bomb explosions

It's crazy to know that I was just in the south part of Mumbai just a few days earlier, and I was planning to go shopping again in that area in the coming days. I guess that's one good thing about having to work the graveyard shift in Mumbai...I'm not around the shopping areas during the evening rush hour!

The mood in the office didn't seem that different, like it was normal that there were bombings. The JV guys said not to worry about it. However, there were many people on the local television that were angry that bombings seem to be more of a normal occurrence. It was nerve-racking to me to be in a city that has terrorist bombings, especially since the last time they were targeting luxury hotels (ex. the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel)!

Mumbai is the financial hub of India. And what do you know, I work in the financial business! Can you say...Time to go home now?

Anyhow, the 2 Irvine people changed their flights for 1:30 PM the next day. I changed mine to leave a day earlier than anticipated. We were also told to stay away from crowded areas, shopping centers, and tourist areas. And, of course, it was pouring rain outside, so it's not like I could go out to the pool during the day. So pretty much, the last day(s) kind of sucked. Didn't get to do any of the shopping that I wanted to do. But I can't complain...at least I was alive and about to go home.

The next day I packed all my stuff up, gave the left over beer to my drivers, went to work for 1/2 day, then hopped on a plane home. Later on, I got a "thank you" message from my driver, Santosh. Apparently, he was supposed to bring beer for everyone at a party that weekend. With my gift, he was able to give each person 2 beers that weekend, and with the money he saved from not having to buy the beer, his wife was able to buy their kid a new pair of shoes! Dang...I didn't realize what the power of beer could do for a family. lol Anyhow, it was nice to hear that the beer went to good use. :-)

I'll post some random pics of my trip soon. If you have anything in particular you want to see, please comment and I'll try to put some up.

In the end, however, the transition to Mumbai went well...and supposedly I'll start work on a different client next week. I still have a job...but we all know how that can change at any moment. I'll keep the corporate card until then. lol