9/11/2006

The Towers had a special position

My first meeting in USA was in the World Trade Center. In 1999 I landed in USA for the first time. Within 12 hours I had my first meeting in the World Trade Center. On my second day in USA I spent the entire day in the World Trade Center part of it in meeting and part of it roaming around exploring the Twin Towers. I had my first Coffee in USA at the Starbucks located at the ground floor of the building.

A year earlier my wife had shifted to USA on a job assignment and her office was located in the World Trade Center. Her first day in USA started in the Twin Towers. In the next two years I visited the Towers several times. As luck would have it just a few months before Sept 11, 2001, pat of my wife's office shifted to New Jersey and only Marketing and Corporate function remained in the Tower.

On the morning of Sept11, 2001, I saw the news of the first plane strike and was franticaly trying to contact my wife's ofice and could not get through. By the time I managed to IM her and her collegues the second plane had struck. By a stroke of luck, no one was in the office at the time of the strike. I watched in horror as the towers collapsed. An intricate part of our personal history just vanished.

Today is an emotional day and day of prayer and reflection. I am optimist, in the long run good will prevail over the evil. It might be a long struggle but the evil ideology of suicide bombers and terrorist will be defeated.

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