Mumbai

#Mumbai means mother Mumba, the great goddess of the fisherfolk of the region. The land is seen as the mother, source of nourishment. She has seen attacks before. As a child I remember looking up at a sky glowing red and being fascinated by the 'lolli-pops' hanging in the sky. We survived that war.

Back then we called our city Bombay, beautiful bay in Portuguese. We would stuff hankies in our mouths and duck under our desks in school when the air raid sirens would go off.

We are survivors. And we have mother Mumba watching over us.

Photo: I took this photograph just outside Leopolds, where the carnage began these last few days. When I took this photo, however, it was another late night in Bombay, as we thought of our city then, the cool air blowing in from the beautiful bay.