Art of Living volunteer Pravin Elmal said that since the residents had seen and heard a lot from up close, they are still scared.

“Although people were evacuated from the area, they could hear the firing and bombing. We are trying to remove the fear through yoga, meditation, satsang and counselling techniques in a three-day course,” he said.

Vikram Ahir, one of the local residents who attended the course, says, “I am feeling much better.”

However, those affected the worst, other than victims, are police officers. They are being counselled by Healthcare Solution Service and PPC Worldwide, an international employee assistance programme provider that worked with British Army soldiers in the Iraq war.

“A tragedy like this affects many stakeholders throughout the city, one of them being the police. Imagine how they must be feeling. Throughout the world the police are provided psychiatric assistance and therefore as a gesture we have provided 15 trained psychiatrists for the Mumbai Police and their families to talk to during a three-day camp we have organised with Healthcare,” said Kumud Rajendra, the CEO of PPC Worldwide in India.

“We usually counsel a lot of professionals in companies and will be doing so now, as well as for our clients, but this is the first time we are doing this for the Mumbai police,” said Jane Henry, manager of operations for PPC

“Stress like this can affect a person’s decision-making ability. Imagine what would happen if that was the case with the police,” said Dr Raju Waghmare, president of Healthcare.

... contd.