August 14, 2003


Some days are better than others...

And today is not better than any other day.
It may be sunny outside but it all looks gray to me.
I didn't even eat my hot fudge sundae...

Previous paragraph was entered early afternoon. And I thought my day was really bad until 4:11 PM hit. It got worse. 4:11 PM was when a blackout sweeped over New York, Cleveland, Detroit, Toronto, Ottawa and other cities in the eastern seaboard. First thing in mind: terrorist attack.

I was at work when it happened. On the phone with a customer trying to address some issues. The light turned off and I thought - oh power loss. Thought maybe its coz it was such a hot day, everyone had their ACs on, and drained the power. But then the announcement came " blah blah blah... everyone must leave!". And then my SVP stepped out of her office saying big cities in the eastern seaboard are out of power. That's when we all started panicking. That's when all of the what-if scenarios started playing in our heads. Every person in the office didn't listen to the announcement. Everyone, instead, jumped back to their desks and started dialing every phone they can get their hands on (we all have atleast 2). But no one could get through now. No one could talk to their loved ones. All of us gave up and started piling out of the office.

Its reminiscent of 9-11. Of course there's no planes crashing at the twin towers. There's no more twin towers. No planes either since all the airports have been closed. Actually, come to think of it, had this been a terrorist attack, i think it'd be scarier. Think about multiple cities without any power. You can't get ahold of anybody. Public transportations halted: thousands of people stuck in the subway system, metro north not running at all, buses are instructed not to run to minimize the risk on the streets. Thousands of people stranded far away from their homes. Pretty scary as it is and... just imagine if it is terrorist related... think of the chaos...

The good thing is, people learned from 9-11. People are more calmer. People are more ready. I was just watching fox news and a reporter out in the streets of alphabet city in downtown manhattan stopped a random car to interview the passengers. The guy in the passenger seat said that the guy driving the car (i could have sworn its a BMW) is kind enough to offer to drive them home: one guy from queens, another guy from somewhere else and the third guy from Connecticut. All of them were white. I can't remember where the driver live but he originated from Bangladesh and moved here a few years ago. He was asked if he's charging and he said he's not and not expecting anything back. He was asked why he was doing it and he said he felt like he had to. And then passengers said 'He's a true American". What a statement! That was also followed by a statement by the reporter in the studio that says people like that guy is the reason why people live in NYC. Coz people in New York, contrary to the belief that they are heartless and snobs, are willing to help their neighbors at the most opportune time... in the reporter's words 'New Yorkers got your back!'. I couldn't agree more.

Its great to know that instead of panicking, people are actually out there trying to help. Of course there are those who couldn't wait to go home to their homes and families. But there are also those who leave their homes and families to go out and help others. I salute those people. I'm sure there are a lot of them in NY. But I'm sure kind hearts exist everywhere else.

I hope that all my friends and loved ones are doing ok tonight... and in all their lives.

To those who have reached out to make sure I'm ok, thanks for caring. It means a lot!

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