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Fridays don't seem lucky for Bombay

Friday and violence appear to go hand in hand where Bombay is concerned.

March 12 marks the fifth anniversary of the serial bomb blasts that rocked the city -- and is the most mind-boggling instance of violence ever unleashed against Bombay. That happened on a Friday, and left 350 dead, numerous injured, and inflicted loss to property worth millions of rupees.

The same morning, on March 12, 1993, another explosion took place on a Karjat-bound local train, in which 18 people were injured but which was totally overshadowed by the RDX-inspired death dance of that afternoon.

Recently, the bomb blasts that occurred in Bombay on poll eve, in which four people were killed and 31 injured, took place on February 27. Another Friday.

The Friday connection apparently is nothing new. Fiftyfour years ago, on a Friday, April 14, 1944 to be precise, an unprecedented disaster, which later came to be known as the Bombay Dock Explosion, took place at the naval dockyard in the city. Two explosions devastated life and property worth millions. The fire brigade, after unsuccessfully fighting the raging flames for nearly an hour and a quarter, lost more than 60 firemen who perished while combating the inferno caused by the explosion, along with equipment.

At the time of the second explosion, buildings and structures including shops and houses in the area collapsed like a house of cards. Many died, some simply disappeared, over 500 were hospitalised and all services in the city came to a standstill.

This grim record of violence was overhauled almost 50 years later, by the serial blasts. Fridays, it seems, are just not lucky for the city.

UNI

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