Bhavesh Lad remembers the sinking feeling that pervaded as the news came out from Mumbai, India, just more than a year ago.
“It was fearful,” the UF graduate student said. “Everyone was very fearful.”
His mother was working about a mile from one of the bombing sites during the terrorist attacks that gripped the city on Nov. 26, 2008, and did not relent for four days.
Though Lad’s mother was not hurt, the attacks left more than 160 dead and more than 300 injured.
UF students honored these victims Monday night at a candlelight vigil in the Reitz Union Amphitheatre to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the attacks.
About 50 people lit candles to remember those affected by the tragedy and to show solidarity in the effort for peace in a vigil devoid of any special agenda.
“This is not political or religious at all,” said Ellen Kruk, Gators for Israel vice president and one of the organizers of the event.
“It’s about peace and remembrance,” she said.
In their first co-sponsored event, the vigil was organized by the Indian Student Association and Gators for Israel, along with the Jewish Student Union and the Lubavitch Chabad Jewish Student Center.
Distinguished Professor and Department of Religion chairwoman Vasudha Narayanan gave a few words during the vigil on the importance of recognizing human unity and stopping the cycle of violence that leads to tragedies like this.
“What we do have to remind ourselves is that an eye for an eye will eventually make the whole world blind,” she said.
Rabbi Berl Goldman, co-director of the Lubavitch Chabad Jewish Center, led a moment of silence before charging attendees to commemorate the dead through example.
“You create living memorials through good acts and good deeds,” he said.
Lad later remembered his parents telling him of the resolve of Mumbai’s citizens in the days after the attacks.
“Everyone went back to normal,” he said. “I think that’s a very strong way of going about life, to challenge the terrorists.”
