My Exploritales: Nariman Light House Memorial

Kala Ghoda is an event that show cases many creative and innovative installations. There are many stalls and live programmes of music and dance. I make it a point to visit it each year. This time was no different. I went on a Sunday morning and strolled around visiting all the stalls and admiring the installations. If you are there you must visit the children's section too as it has some amazing installations put up by the school kids.

This time my visit to Kala Ghoda was a bit different. Each year they mentioned some heritage walks being conducted there and so this time I wanted to be a part of it. I registered myself at the registration desk there. The heritage walk was to begin at 11 am and it was conducted by Khaki Tours, a well known tour company that regularly conducted heritage walks around historically important places in Mumbai. I had been with this group for two heritage walks during their initial days.I was looking forward to this particular walk as it was to the Nariman Light house Memorial, a place that became well known during the terror attacks that rocked Mumbai in September, 2011.

We all had to reach the Nariman House on our own and the walk would begin from there. The place was a straight walk from Regal cinema and in a lane a bit away from the main road which was always hustling and bustling with people. It is a three storey nondescript building that is surrounded by other small buildings. No high rises here, only the middle class residents nearby going about their daily routines.There is a metal door at the entrance and it is well guarded. They asked for our original IDs and checked our bags thoroughly and let us in. The group lead was a beautiful young girl whose details I cant remember. She took us through the journey in an interesting way and made us recollect the horrific times that this very building witnessed during that attack.

We used the lift and went to the terrace where they have made a memorial in honour of all those who died in the aftermath of that terror attack. The memorial is made of marble and has water flowing and greenery around. There are photographs displaying all the locations where the terror attacks took place during that period.The whole building has been converted into a museum and we can actually see the way the building has been ravaged. She showed us the place where the special security forces landed. They also took position in some buildings around the Nariman Lighthouse in order to retaliate against the terrorists.This place is also known as Chabad House. The vivid memory of a nanny holding little Moshe same rushing back during this heritage walk.

A video film was shown to us as we were taken to another floor. The whole place was ripped to shambles. There was a gaping hole made in the wall by the grenade attack of the security forces to counter the terrorist attack.All the terrorists inside the Chabad house were killed but we also lost some of our brave security personnel.Rabbi Gauriel and Rivkah Holtzberg had lovingly built and nurtured their Chabad house. It was a place for Jewish tourists. and backpackers who travelled to Mumbai . The couple were immediately killed and their son ,Baby Moshe was miraculously saved by their nanny. There were some other tourists also present here during the attack. We were shown the bloodied wall near which they were ruthlessly shot at by the terrorists. We went to the room which was the nursery of Baby Moshe. The mother had lovingly painted the wall and there was also a wall that had markings of the little ones gradual growth in height. She told us that last year Moshe came to visit this place and his height was marked on that very wall. As the tour guide explained all the happenings of the terrorist attack every single person at that heritage walk was left teary eyed and over whelmed.It was like a flash back of the unfortunate events of that black September 2011.

At present there is no one staying there. There is an office and there are plans to make it a state of the art museum and memorial of September 2011. To conclude I can say that visiting this place brought back some painful memories that we all would like to forget. It is events like thes e that make us realize the fruitlessness and pain caused by terror. The video beautifully tells us that we should not think of revenge but we should fight back with love. The heritage walk leaves us with a noble message given by the honourable Rebbe.

"We must translate pain into action,and tears into growth"- The Rebbe.

" We must remember the past to create a better future."

" A little bit of light, dispels a lot of darkness."

We came out of the Nariman House with a heart full of pain and hope for a world without terrorism. I am so glad I attended this particular heritage walk. The Nariman House is open for heritage walks and they charge Rs 3oo/- per visitor. You need to carry original ID proof and photography is allowed here.Do visit this place for a look into that dark terror attack of September 2011. History can teach us a lot, we only need to be open to learn from it.