It’s not often that people will risk their lives for others. During times of danger and panic, most people, in a rush of adrenalin, will try and save their own hides, but not so in Mumbai. During those terrible 3 days when a few inhumane, conscience-lacking, jihadis held part of a city hostage, leaving a trail of blood from a train station to several hotels to a Jewish Center, ordinary citizens of Mumbai went above and beyond to help those in need. It is those people, those regular folk, some of whom lost their own lives trying to save others, that I dedicate this to.

As the many stories of heroism emerge, those selfless acts of courage help reaffirm one’s faith in humankind. In spite of the bloody carnage wrought by those unholy islamist warriors, those savages who spared no-one, the tragedy in Mumbai proves that love and respect for humanity trumps hatred and blatant disregard for human life. Always!

Although there were rumors that the terrorists were targeting westerners- Americans, Brits and Jews, specifically- they actually indiscriminately aimed at everyone and anyone. The elderly, the young, westerners and non-westerners alike, inflicting as much damage and killing as many people as possible, which makes those heroic acts even more compelling.

The staff at the 3 targeted hotels, the Taj Mahal and Trident/Oberoi, are to be commended. In the face of panic and chaos, they always remained calm and protective of the hotel guests, helping them escape, lying to the gunmen about the guests’ whereabouts, feeding them and shielding them from gunfire. One man tells of his harrowing experience. He and his Indian wife, along with some friends were dining at the Taj, when all hell broke loose. He writes about how the staff saved their lives on several occasions, and how many of them lost their lives in the process. Prashant Mangeshikar, and his family who were also at the Taj, describes how a maintenance worker, standing in front of his wife, shielded the group when a gunman opened fire, and was shot in his abdomen. They have no idea if he survived.

There’s an email account (sent to friends) from a man staying at the Trident, the sister hotel attached to the Oberoi, who escaped, thanks to one of the hotel staff, a taxi driver and people on the street who cleared the way, in heavy traffic, for him to get to the airport.

Railway station worker, Vishnu Datta Ram Zende, calmly used the public-address system to direct people to the safest exit, after hearing an explosion at the Victoria Terminus Station, and stayed until the platform was emptied, but in so doing, the gunmen fired at his booth, but thankfully he was not harmed.

Then you have Sandra Samuel, the Indian nanny, who upon hearing her 2 year old charge crying for her, emerged from hiding ran upstairs, grabbed the boy and ran, saving the boy, who apparently had been beaten on the back. She does not see herself as a hero, because she believes she could have helped the boy’s parents, Rabbi Holtzberg and his pregnant wife Rivkah, who were lying in a pool of blood seemingly unconscious, but she is indeed a hero, and continues to be so, as she plans on staying with the child, in Israel, as long as he needs her.

There are many other accounts of heroism, and some we will probably never hear of, but for all those who attempted to save lives, and did, God bless you!

For those who lost their lives, God rest your Souls.

And for those who took almost 200 innocent lives, and injured almost 300, and for those who condone such acts of violence, there’s a special place in hell for you.