Pune-13th Feb 10, Saturday evening.
The week-end, when people normally head out for an evening of fun and frolic.
To put the travails of the working week behind them and get a well deseved break.
And then in the most unexpected way, terror strikes, catching them unwares.
A bomb blast that ripped through Pune's landmark, the famous German Bakery, where a waiter had just picked up and opened an unidentified bag.
Someone's wife dead, a brother and sister dying.All combined with the sounds of sheer panic and pandemonium.Sirens of ambulances covered up by those of people running in fear, not knowing what would hit them next.
Such were the gut wrenching images that we saw late at night on our TV screens, and which were telecast worldwide.Scenes that brought home the realisation that 'Terror' an insidious, nameless, faceless entity had struck yet again.
The worrying thought uppermost in our minds-When and where would it strike next?
Then today, there were new developments.We clearly saw the terror threats that had been issued by a key member of Pakistan's Jamat Ul Daawa(JUD)exactly ten days ago, when Pune had been mentioned by name.
So what do we conclude? Should we continue with the TV docu-dramas such as Aman Ki Aasha and others like it? Continue our effort to promote cultural excahanges between the two countries?
Or do we need to take a firm stand and decide that until there is a complete cessation of these dastardly acts, we will have nothing whatsoever to talk about?
Very difficult decisions, but ones that will just have to be made.So that there can actually be a real solution to this ticking time bomb and those which will set a precedent for what lies ahead.