Where were you when it happened?

There are some defining moments in each person’s life, in a nation’s consciousness, when time seems to move in slow motion.

So what are the moments in your life that you can remember as being such ?

For most older Indians, it was the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi.

For older Americans, it was the shooting of John F. Kennedy.

For the younger generation, such as mine, it was probably the slayings of Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi, either or both.

Can you remember where were you when you heard the news for the first time? What were you doing?

Yes, I can still remember where I was when I heard of the assassination of Mrs. Gandhi. I was 11 years old , holidaying with my siblings and cousins in Goa. And we were scheduled to return to Mumbai in a couple of days. The next 2 days were spent reading all the news we could get and hoping that we would not be affected by any riots against the Sikhs,

And ,coincidentally, I was again away from home when the news of Rajiv Gandhi’s tragic death broke. I was attending a retreat when the news broke. And had to wait a couple of days before I could get my hands on a newspaper to get up to speed with what was happening in the darkened world!

Both events were shocking and though both India and I have put those episodes behind us, the memories still linger and most  can still remember the shock and despair we felt.

What about you?