Many have assumed that it is the attack on luxury hotels that evoked such a heartfelt reaction among Mumbai’s citizens. Even if it is true, it is a narrow interpretation. Consider the facts: at one time most Mumbaikars lived in or commuted to South Mumbai for work, shopping or education. Today the Mumbai Metropolitan Region stretches over 4355 sq km; the overwhelming majority of its 19.7 million people — including the rich — live in suburbs and townships each with their own bazaars, multiplexes, hotels, schools and offices and never need to head downtown. For a majority of Mumbaikars then, the sight of the burning Taj was not just about the burning of a hotel; it was also a reminder of the past.

It is significant how many people began to call Mumbai “Bombay” in the wake of the attacks. It was as if, like a precious possession stashed away to hide it from the ill-intentioned, the name was pulled out of its hiding place and flaunted on television, in print and in conversation.  It was a reminder of how long the city has been under siege from the forces of religious and ethnic chauvinism; the thugs who vandalise cinema halls and academic institutions; rough up doctors and school principals, disrupt plays and art exhibitions, use foul and abusive language and who enforce nomenclature at the cost of disconnecting the city from its past.

Likely as not, the terrorist attack on “CST” may have evoked a far more sentimental reaction had it not been stripped of its old name, Victoria Terminus, redolent of history and nostalgia, thereby reducing the magnificent edifice to just another station. The severity and scale of the 26/11 attacks however shocked even Mumbai’s self-appointed guardians, the Shiv Sena and its other avatar, the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena into inaction. For the first time in 20 years, their relentless rumble of threatening disapproval was silenced. And in that brief interregnum, ordinary citizens seemed to find their voices again.

... contd.