A TV reporter with a mike in hand goes around Mumbai asking people, “Ashok Kamte kaun the (who was Ashok Kamte)? He first poses this question to young girls. They draw a blank. So does an elderly man standing outside an apartment. Three taxi drivers too plead ignorance. He then moves on and asks a few young boys, “Who was Hemant Karkare?” “Don’t know,” they chorus. After a few minutes one of them hesitantly says, “in 26/11….” He doesn’t seem sure, though.
Next the reporter asks the same set of people, “Who was Ajmal Kasab?” And all of them reply immediately, “terrorist”.
Raj Konar, the young CEO of Fadoo, India’s first web TV, is distressed that the martyrs of 26/11 are fading from people’s memory. “Please don’t think about them only on 26/11. Make them part of your conscience, your everyday living. After all, they have not given up their lives for their family or friends but for a larger cause.”
So he decided to come up with a tribute video which has been shot at the locations where the terrorists struck and features more than 80 cops including Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Sadanand Date who were involved in the rescue operations, the staff of Cama Hospital, Taj Mahal Hotel, Trident Hotel and the Mumbai Fire Brigade.
“I am moved every time I think about those thousands of unsung heroes like the nurses of the Cama Hospital who had the amazing presence of mind to switch off the lights when they came to know that Kasab and his men would next target the hospital. And that’s how they saved many lives, including that of a woman in labour.”
Another poignant shot in the video is the national anthem with music by Salim Sulaiman and sung by Sonu Nigam, Shreya Ghoshal, Sunidhi Chauhan, Kailash Kher and Shaan.
The video, according to Raj, is a grim reminder of the tragedy and a celebration of bravery.
