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- Pictures can be found in the Albums section of the website.

- Thanks to CNN-iBN which is one of India's leading News channels. It had a dedicated photo slideshow on their website about the event.
It can be found >> HERE <<
Pictures by : Arvind Ramachander, Rooju Choksi, Saurabh Sinha and Swaroop Shere

- Articles of Arizona Republic and State Press can be found by clicking these links

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This event was conducted by the Indian Students Association at Arizona State University (ISA @ ASU) as a mark of respect for the people who lost their lives in the Mumbai terror attacks.
We took this as a medium to promote World Peace, as terrorism is now is a global phenomenon.

The day was December 5th 2008, Friday when people from all walks gathered for one common purpose PEACE.  Arizona State University (ASU) being one of the Top 3 Universities in the US in terms of student intake with over 66,000 had many Indians in it.

It was a matter of great concern to us when this attack happened as our thoughts shifted directly to our families back home. Many of my friends had their families in Mumbai who had close brushes with death too.

We organized this to event to show that we care and we share the grief and trauma which is going through the minds of the affected families. The beauty of any event of this type is people really stand up together and work together. We usually needed "people for managing people" during our events but here it was all self catalyzed as we observed many came forward to volunteer and made sure the event went on smoothly.

Different student organizations like the Muslims Students Association(MSA) at ASU were also invited.  The main motive of the event was to make people realize back home that they should actively be involved in politics to make up for a successful democracy. We’ve had enough opportunities where we had left everything to the politicians. Its time we also take some responsibility and act, so that the government which is reactive nowadays will be proactive or active atleast in taking care of its people.

It was thanksgiving break the time every student craves for most ,for the leisure and ofcourse the online deals, but this ghastly incident came like a rude shock to us, who instead of looking at shopping sites online waited for the news channels to convey some good news.
We sent out an E-mail asking for everyone’s well being back home, and organized this event at University level to make sure that our message is passed on. We wanted everyone to know that Terrorism has no religion and we are all united against it.  We were glad that people from many different countries,different age groups turned up.

Retired people, working people and we also had people who took permission from work made sure they attended this event. It was covered in the front page of the State Press ( the most popular newspaper giving Campus news)

The Event:

The event started off with the ISA President Anudeep Jhunjhunwala giving an introductory speech on what had happened and the common purpose of us assembling there. It was followed by a two minutes silence which was very moving, as the pictures of the people and the stories of how they lost their lives, their heroics came to mind.

We were also glad to see the support of ASU as the Dean of Student Affairs, Dean Mistalene Calleroz- White who I haven’t seen in my two years till now spoke showing their solidarity and help for the people in distress.It was indeed a very nice gesture indeed from her side.

We had Shriniwas Kulkarni, a graduate student from the suburbs of Mumbai sharing his thoughts about what how he felt when he read about the places he associated with so closely were burning.

A student representative from the Muslim Students Association @ ASU spoke about Islam and Terrorism and how they were also affected by what had happened in Mumbai. It was a nice gesture by him to come up and speak at his occasion.

Mayur Jain, and alumni of ASU presented his views on how people back home should react and take this event as a change factor to makes lives better. It was focused on educated people being involved in politics and using their voting rights to full effect instead of taking refuge of rest and a busy life. 

We had people pledging that they would encourage their near and dear ones to vote and also tell them to pass on the message that they are important in Democracy and they can make their lives better.

The volunteers distributed the candles and lit them up so that the light could be passed on. Never before in ASU, was there a walk for global peace. The famous Palm Walk (which is an infinite stretch of Palm Trees is very characteristic of Arizona and the most popular place to walk at ASU)never looked so special to me.  The whole atmosphere was so special that that people knew the importance of the occasion. We made sure we passed on this information to other Universities to have similar events so that people get involved and spread the word. We managed to waterfall this to other Universities like University of Colorado, Boulder which organized this event on the Dec 7th. Washington State University is also planning on the same on December 19th.

I always believed if there is one country which could get all nations together for PEACE and harmony, then it would be none other than INDIA. We as young citizens should take the responsibility and make sure the way we struggle to get good education , the way we struggle to make sure our work is delivered efficiently the same should hold for our politicians whose whole and sole responsibility is to take care of the people who have trusted them.

All in all, we want to see a new India just like our Indian cricket team or this younger generation of Indians which has blossomed into a symbol of healthy competition to make sure results of highest quality is delivered.
Why can’t we expect the same out of the Politicians is our question we pose to them?

To conclude, we need leaders filled with energy and flare. Like Swami Vivekananda said “Give me few men and women who are pure and selfless and I shall shake the world”... India needs them at this time !!

Jai Hind

*This article was also submitted to CNN-iBN