Spring Break
Showing solidarity against terrorism
Jason Le Miere
Issue date: 12/3/08 Section: News
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Rather than the tradition of watching football, however, Deshpande was tuned in to the news, watching as his home city of Mumbai, India, was attacked by terrorists, and fearing for the safety of his parents.
Deshpande's parents survived the attacks. Seven of his friends' friends were among nearly 200 people who did not.
"My parents work two blocks away from where that happened," said Deshpande, a junior mechanical engineering major. "They had been to work that day. So it was much worse me calling them up and telling them please go home."
Deshpande was one of the 70-plus students who attended a mourning next to the Seventh Street barbecue pits on Tuesday for the victims of the Mumbai attacks.
Students lined up before boards of images displaying pictures of the damage and the victims of the attacks to pray for those affected.
"This event is organized, basically, for the people who died in Mumbai in the terror attacks," said Shripal Pandya, a senior general engineering major and co-organizer of the event. "We are praying for the people who died in that."
The mourners said that this was their way of connecting to those affected back home.
"We are away from our home, so this is what we can do," said Ankur Thakur, a senior electrical engineering major. "We want to let them know we are united. That's why we came here."
Many of the mourners had a personal connection to the attacks, including Thakur, who has parents and a friend living in Mumbai.
"One of my friends escaped from that attack," he said. "He just went early to his office. It was his regular session, but fortunately he missed that attack and he's safe now."
Simply knowing someone who had died through a friend made the attacks seem much more intense.
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
Suzanne
posted 12/03/08 @ 9:14 AM PST
Excellent reporting. Thank you so much.
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