Lest we should forget

Some dates in history do not need to have a year tag. They are always etched in our mind. Such a one is September 11. It means 9/11/2001. The history of this country as well as the world changed from that date. Everyone has been affected in one way or other since that day. Be it removing the shoes or being touched at all the unwanted places in the body at the airport has become a ritual now. Today is the sad anniversary that marks ten years of the trauma. The common question on everyone's mouth today is - where were you on that day? I dropped my wife at her work and was driving to my work when the first plane hit. After reaching my office, the second plane hit and in an hour one of the towers collapsed. News was harder to come by as the internet as well as the phones were jammed. Internet was not fast then. We were still using Netscape in those days. Actually it was easier to reach Indian sites than local sites like the CNN here. I had to tune into the old fashioned radio to get news. Only after two or three hours could I reach everyone in my family. There is even a theory that the plane that crashed near Pittsburgh was intended to crash into Ft Detrick where the NCI, where I work, is located. We work in an army base where all sorts of research are conducted. During these days of heightened security, we have to show two IDs to enter the campus. Lots of images of those days still linger like people falling from the towers, people running away from the scene covered in ash and children crying. Many died, but some had miraculous escapes like the senior of my elder son who was working in the towers. She was pregnant and had morning sickness and called in to say that she would be late and that saved her. Thinking of that day and reliving it brings intense sadness as, unlike many others, we were in the area of disaster. My only wish is - may such a day never again dawn in our lives. The idea for the accompanying picture was there for the last ten years and only today I could carry it out, alas, with a hole in my heart.

Regards! - mOhana