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Sidewinder

It all began with a phone call. The time was about 1927 Local time (about 0945 EST), when I first got a call from dad asking me to turn the TV on....

For the next 14 hours or so, until I was overcome by sleep, I did not budge from the TV. First up it seemed like a fire on both the towers (I was seeing the recorded tapes being played on CNN)
& then the horrifying footage of one tower collapsing.... then I saw the second tower go down as it happened...the images being beamed all over the world & only then did it hit me hard that
this was a terrorist attack.

Terrorist attacks are not new to me, hailing from the world's largest democracy,India, I have seen attacks on people with bombs, claymore mines & the like almost ever since I was able to read news papers, see the news on TV & for over two decades, the people of Kashmir have been suffering. But 9/11 was an extreme act of terror, & the worst part about the whole thing was it succeeded.
Till that date, many US citizens had never experienced fear/sorrow on a massive scale & my heart goes out to all of them because I know how much of anger & sorrow builds up inside when there
is nothing you can do but just watch. Lots of lucky New Yorkers could at least lend a helping hand in the rescue efforts, & that might have helped them get over their grief faster than many others.

On a personal level, I had that "evil triumphed over good again" feeling & it took me a few days to get back to normal. Moreover, being a member of WiredPatrol, means you make lots of lovely friends over the Internet, I was worried about all our WiredPatrollers in NYC & prayed that none of them were even near the WTC during the attack. I also came online as soon as I could & had a small chat with twin^A^, one of our Channel Operators & a very good friend & frankly I don't even remember what we spoke about the attacks, because it was just a quick "Hi are you OK ?" & the main problem was that the effects of the attack were spilling onto IRC as well & the channels were quite mad.....

The Bottom line is Sanity & Peace were lost for a second on 9/11, but Compassion, Humanity & Unity were gained afterwards... The whole world stood behind the US, & the economy is now slowly
recovering & the future looks bright again. I salute those Firefighters & Emergency personnel, Police & the public of NYC for handling the situation the way they did & My heart goes out to the people who lost their loved ones in these attacks. Those lost souls, will rest in peace when the plague called terrorism as a whole is eradicated from the world.

I also feel deeply hurt by the fact it took an attack on US Soil, for the US government to wake up & realize that terrorism is rampant & present in all parts of the world. Terrorism is a middle aged person by now,having been in this world for the last 30-40 years & if the same "war on terror" was launched 10 years ago, 9/11/2001 would have just been another day in the Life of America. It was only after 9/11 that the US woke up , albeit a bit too late...but as the saying goes "better late than never", lets all now stand united & make this world a terror free place to live in.

Sidewinder