Last weekend, I managed to catch this documentary about the Pentagon over National Geo. One of the segments of this documentary was about the Sept. 11 attack on the Pentagon. Strangely enough, last month, the 11th past by me without any incident. However, watching this documentary opened up a flood gate of memories.
You see, 10 days prior to that fateful day, yours truly was one of the thousands of tourist basking in under the warm summer sun in between the two towers. It was great day, weather was fantastic and I was enjoying my very last day in the Big Apple and my last day in the United States after 5 long years. Watching the kinetic pace of New Yorkers going on with their lives, it was something which holds a special place in my memories.
Fast forward to Bangsar stalls.
"Dude, ko tgk tu, white house** kena attack sial!"
"Serious?ko biar betul?"
"Dude, there, its on CNN. sialla....lagi satu attack kat New York!"
And so it did. I could not believe this horror was occuring at that very moment. I went numb momentarily. I was there about a week before. I was standing in between the towers. I was lining up to go up Tower 2. If this would have happened at that time...........
My first thoughts were of Wani. I was crashing at her apartment in NYC. She works a couple of blocks away from the WTC, at the Metlife building. I dialled her office number instantly. "Sorry, all lines are busy. Please try again later". I called her parents here in KL to ask whether they have heard from her. No, she hasnt called and they were terrified.
3 days later, I finally managed to get hold of her.
"I ran like hell. The moment I I heard about the crash, I got up and ran out of the building, like everyone else."
"It was madness. Everyone was confused, scared"
"I ran all the way to the Malaysian Embassy. I passed by the Israeli Embassy and it was heavily guarded, security and armed personnel everywhere. I was scared."
"I couldnt go back to Brooklyn. I stayed at the Embassy during those 3 days"
Im glad she turned out fine. And while it is a great tragedy, I am thankful to God that I was not there on that very day at that spot. I still have pictures of the WTC taken from Staten Island. Its a postcard perfect picture.
where were you on September 11?
*About the title, Explosions in the sky is a band from Texas. Their debut album was released on Sept 10, 2001. On the album cover, there is a picture of an angel and the words that was inscribed on it was "the plane will crash tomorrow...". Pure coincidence you think?
** there was some confusion at that time. we thought the white house was attacked.
