What started as a stream in the afternoon became a force by the time the sun went down. Mumbaikars from every corner of the city came to applaud their new heroes, the NSG commandos, clicked pictures with them and conveyed their congratulations. They were joined by a number of prominent denizens, including singer Sonu Nigham, filmmaker Shona Urvashi and MTV VJ Raghu Rai.

Nine-year-old Sampada Chowdhary, who was glued to the TV for the last two days, came from Marine Lines with her parents to meet the heroes. “They killed the terrorists. They are our heroes,” she said, after her wish of shaking hands with commandos was fulfilled. Nagpada resident Farida Iqbal Mansuri went a step ahead. “I have taken autographs of five commandoes and I’m collecting more. It’s because of them that we are alive,” she said.

Few others like IT company employee Amit Chakravathy was just waiting for the terror drama to end. He along with three of his friends rushed from Andheri soon after the situation became normal. “We wanted to come on Thursday but the situation was very chaotic,” he said. “I also wanted to thank the commandoes.”

A number of Mumbaikars also wanted to check the extent of damage done to the 1903 architectural marvel. With the area still cordoned off, the onlookers took position near the Gateway of India, bandstand and behind the hotel to observe the structure.

The scene was not very different at the Oberoi-Trident and Nariman House. The turnout at these places, however, was much less compared to the landmark hotel. But the curiosity to figure out the extent of damage was prevalent could be seen at these sites too. Milind Damle—craning his neck to see what was happening in the narrow lane leading to Nariman House—was trying to find out how many bodies were lying inside.

Marine Drive that was wearing a deserted look for the last two days saw crowds in huge numbers. They were not the usual tourists or those who like to while away their evenings by the Arabian Sea. They were the ones, who were keeping track of the rescue operations on their television sets. Now that the real danger is over, they wanted to witness what remained after the carnage.

However, Mumbai’s famous Colaba Causeway remained almost empty till late afternoon on Saturday. The row of shops and pavement kiosks were shut, the hawkers were away and its crowded eateries had their shutters down. The scene changed completely on Sunday.

The train services normalised at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST) on Sunday. Still, it wasn’t swarming with people, like other days. “The number of commuters is much higher than what it was on Thursday and Friday,” said Deputy Station Manager Sanjay Pande. The number of policemen deployed at the station, however, seems to have gone up.

If the conspirators of the terror strikes had expected an eerie calm to prevail following the operations, they certainly were disappointed. There was grief over the lives lost but instead of fear synonymous with such terror strikes , there was appreciation for the courage shown by one and all during the ordeal.

(With inputs from Shweta Desai)