Community begins to heal after terror attacks in Mumbai, India
Published: December 5, 2008Section: Front Page
The wind whipped the faces of the crowd that had come together and braved the cold to combat terror with love.
The moment of silence was broken by students Avram Mlotek ’09 and Adam Ross ’10, whose voices rose toward the heavens in a Hebrew melody entitled “Lo Yisa Goy”—a prayer for peace whose words, had they been sung, would read “nation shall not lift up sword against nation. They will not learn war anymore.”
Their humming was joined by the rest of the onlookers, as other students rushing to the library to study for finals slowed their gait and listened.
Words, as Brandeis Protestant Chaplain Alex Levering Kern had said only moments before, were not enough to express the “gathering of hearts in solidarity” that took place yesterday afternoon, but silence and song were.
In the week following the terrorist attacks in Mumbai that killed over 180 people and injured at least 300, the Brandeis community united behind a common cause of remembrance and resilience, trying to both pay homage to those killed in the attacks and help those affected to bounce back.
Naman’s Story
Naman Pugalia ’09, who is from southern Mumbai, was at Logan Airport on Thanksgiving on his way to Las Vegas with four other friends from his hometown when he first heard reports of the attack.
Shortly after stepping on his Jet Blue flight, he learned from the in-flight televisions (which he called a “blessing and a curse”) that his “close family friend, mentor and father-figure,” Hemant Karkare, had been killed in the attacks.
“As you can imagine I was devastated,” remarked Pugalia. “Unfortunately Jet Blue did not have satellite telephones, so I couldn’t call.”As soon as his plane touched the ground, Pugalia said, he called his family. His parents were safe.
Pugalia’s friends were not as fortunate – one friend lost a mother, one friend lost a father, and a third lost an uncle.
Pugalia later found out that he had lost at least 10 people he knew in the attacks, including one of his teachers, who founded an NGO that he helped establish in Mumbai.
He was “shattered.” His teacher, he said, “had a heart of gold and worked tirelessly just to provide basic amenities to all those who are not as privileged as we are.”
Pugalia’s vacation, which had started out as a celebration among friends, took a sharp, somber turn.
In the week that followed, Pugalia said, he struggled to prepare himself for what he will encounter when he flies back to Mumbai for winter break.
“I have to now come to terms with the fact that the home I will go back to, is not the home I left,” Pugalia said. “You just don’t want to believe that.”
SASA Responds
Only one week before the terrorist attacks in Mumbai, the South Asian Student Association (SASA) had brought the Brandeis community together for Mela—SASA’s annual celebration of South Asian culture. The week-long celebration included dance and musical performances, had unified the cultures of eight different countries, including those of India and Pakistan.
Ten days after the celebration, SASA was bringing the community together again, if only for a more somber cause.
As Brandeis students returned to campus after Thanksgiving, SASA co-presidents Juhi Chadha ’09 and Richa Sahay ’09 decided to organize a vigil at the peace circle.
The group ordered 40 candles, not knowing what type of a turnout to expect, and about 100 members of the Brandeis community came to commemorate those who died in the attacks Monday night.“The support that we’ve gotten has been overwhelming. I hadn’t even expected this support. It’s so nice to see that everyone is on the same page,” said Sahay.
The Brandeis Family
The support of those who lost loved ones in the terrorist attacks on Mumbai last week expands far beyond SASA.
Sidak Pannu ’12, who is from Mumbai and lost many friends in the terrorist attacks, said that the Brandeis community has been crucial to helping him through this difficult time.
Pannu said he was struck by the support he received after the attacks from not only the three e-mails he received from the International Students and Scholars Office, and two from SASA, but also from Residence Life.
“Can you believe it that in the span of six days, I’m been contacted by three different [Community Development Coordinators]?” asked Pannu.
“That’s remarkable in itself, that so many people would care about me, especially the CDCs. I’m a stranger to them, but they still reached out,” he said.
Pannu also had the support of friends who constantly visited him after the attacks. One of those friends, Michelle Kawas ’12, said that “it’s hard to deal with something like this – we were all just there trying to make [Pannu] smile, trying to lead a normal conversation. Everyone cared.”
“It’s very heartwarming because here we would think that we are away from home,” Pannu said. “But here we see that it’s family in itself, the Brandeis family who wants to stand up against things that are done wrong against its community.”
Pugalia was also overwhelmed by the response. “I’m so touched,” he said, “ I’m so proud to be on this campus. I can’t express how much pride I’m filled with.”
Student Union president Jason Gray ’10, who also attended both vigils and has taken an active role in the student reaction to the tragedies, said, “It’s powerful when you see so many different people rallying together, mourning together, crying together.”
The vigils, Gray said not only “reaffirm the common bond that we all as Brandeis students have and members of this community, but also it’s powerful in that it reminds us that we’re all a part of the same people, and what impacts you, impacts me.”
A Proposal
The attacks in Mumbai have also affected Brandeis’ Jewish community.
One of the places the terrorists attacked was the Mumbai Chabad, where they murdered the Chabad director, Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg and his wife, Rivkah.
“Gavriel and Rivkah left behind a son, Moishe, who was saved by his Christian nanny, and cared for by his Muslim cook,” Pugalia said. “That is the story of Mumbai. But it is also the story of Brandeis, a place that I came to because of its diversity and acceptance.”
“Moishe,” he continued, “is looking to us to build for him a better future.”
As part of that better future, Pugalia wants to raise funds to assist in the rebuilding of the Chabad house and other affected monuments in Mumbai.
“I don’t want this to be one of the efforts Brandeis makes, I want this to be a joint initiative of the global Chabad community and Brandeis University because Brandeis is known for its activism,” Pugalia said.
Pugalia has also begun working with Gray and Hillel Executive Director Larry Sternberg in order to establish a new scholarship in honor of Rabbi Holtzberg and his wife.
Pugalia called the scholarship a “very positive step both for Brandeis and I think as a global response.”
Sternberg, decided to help with the project when he heard Pugalia speak. He said, “the energy of this [project] is something I wanted to nurture.”
Since Pugalia first initiated his proposals, he formed the Revive Mumbai Project and set up a blog.
Already the Revive Mumbai group teamed up with students at NYU to have a “Dine for Mumbai” dinner.
Brandeis’ dinner was held in the Shapiro atrium, and served Indian cuisine for $10. The group made a net profit of $1,115.
Also planned for next Tuesday is a forum sponsored by the South Asian Studies program, Student Union, and Office of Communications that will feature professors and students to give an opportunity to talk more about the “social and political” implications, according to Prof. Harleen Singh (WMGS), who is helping to organize the event.
Moving On
Back at the memorial on Wednesday, Waltham Chabad Director Rabbi Peretz Chein urged those gathered to “do one extreme act of goodness this week in memorial to all those who can never do an act of kindness again.”
“We were attacked on Friday by the fundamentalists of hate and the extremists of darkness,” he said. “We must respond back with the fundamentalism of good.”
Pannu agreed. While he is shaken by his losses in the terrorist attacks, he is determined that he will move on—refusing to allow the terrorists to disrupt his life as they disrupted those of so many others.
As the students who were gathered dispersed, Pannu urged the community to carry on with their lives—to remember the tragedy, but to not let it stop them.
“The best way to combat terrorism is to continue living lives in which we love more than we have ever loved before,” he said. “I look forward to returning to my home in Mumbai over winter break and telling my friends about how the Brandeis community is united with us in our cause.”
He added, “the only thing we have going for us right now is each other.”
You can follow Namun and the Revive Mumbai Project at: http://revivemumbai.blogspot.com/