New York Diary
25 Years Later, Thinking about 9/11
9/11. It’s hard to believe but 25 years have passed since the horrific day the world seemed to end. It was a day few of us can forget, the fabric of nightmares.
Just a few days back I was on the East River waterfront. I always tend to look at the sky during my walks, and this made me catch my breath. It was a perfectly nice summer day yet there were rain clouds in the sky. To me the ominous dark clouds reminded me of the billowing black smoke and startled, my mind immediately went back to 9/11, to the endless replays of the Twin Towers disaster over the years.
I stood there, lost in thought, my mind unleashing a flood of memories.
It’s hard to believe but I was there when it happened, taking a train in the following days to the disappeared twin towers, visiting the cathedral and talking to people on the street. I did reports for India Today and The Week with families who had lost loved ones. (Over the years, I have added those stories to Lassi with Lavina.)
In the present, around me on the summery waterfront, families dawdled, walked and played with their kids and dogs, oblivious to what my imagination saw. In the distance I looked at the spot where the mighty World Trade Towers had once stood. In their place was the rebuilt structure, standing tall and resolute. It told its own story about New York and New Yorkers, about their inner strength, their can-do spirit and their love for each other.
New York and New Yorkers would not be vanquished, even though their hearts were broken.
The children who lost their parents that day are young adults today with few memories of the catastrophic day. We pray for them to have a better world and the strength to make it so.
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