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Razed to the ground - By- Sandhya Acharya Sandhya Acharya is pursuing her MBA in Notre Dame university in the US.

When I came to the USA to do an MBA one month back , I thought I was coming to the land of the superpower. A land which by its political, economical and social muscle was in a position to rule the terms of the world. Today’s incident has no doubt shaken my convictions as it has of the whole world.

September 11th 2001 -- this was just a date for me I was writing on my project. South Bend where I am studying management at the University of Notre Dame, I didn’t imagine that this day would be earmarked as a black day in the history of the USA with the magnitude of tragedy being compared to that of Pearl Harbour. The day began peacefully and I was doing a project on Reuters and was currently on the site of Reuters. Suddenly I saw an article reporting aircrashes at the World Trade Centre in New York. It did not strike me or my roommates that this was such an appalling disaster. It was the sort of cockiness that one would have, imagining nothing could happen to the US so easily. Maybe in India where I come from I am used to hear about strife and riots. Maybe in Sri Lanka where my roommate comes from one would hear about bombs; but here, in the US??

It was only after we started getting concerned phone calls and we switched on the television, did it actually dawn upon us what we were witnessing. Unbelievable, shocking, tragic. These were the words I was catching. Confusion was abound with people not knowing how to react. This was not just any bombing . The strategically important Pentagon had been attacked. The World Trade, a center of commercial activity, the lifeline of the US commerce was destroyed. Destroyed to rubble. Lives lost, hospitals flooded, people in distress, ambulances shuttling. It seemed like a chapter of a fiction movie. It was difficult to believe that all this was true.

Universities and offices closed down. Security in the airports tightened up. The diplomats and leaders gave statements. Condoloences were exchanged. It was clear a tragedy had occurred. It is not just the tragedy however that is haunting. It is the shock. The shock that such a thing could happen and such a thing could happen to the US. There are questions being raised now. Who is behind this? There are talks of retaliation. There is that nagging fear of the whole thing leading to more confrontations and skirmishes. But above all is the disbelief hovering as to how could such a thing happen. Its not just the loss of lives or the crash of the markets that is disturbing. It is the gnawing feeling that no one is safe any longer anywhere that is eating into everybody’s psyche. Raising questions and doubts on your fundamental beliefs and trusts. It is obviously going to take some time to answer these questions and restore peace and calm. Till then one has to contend that the false notion of security and the feeling of power and comfort had been cruelly razed to the ground.

Credits

World Trade Center attack picture courtesy AP

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