Students pay tribute to 26/11 martyrs

On the occasion of the seventh anniversary of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack, students of Symbiosis Institute of Business Management performed a street play in the City on Thursday as a tribute to the defence and police personnel who lost their lives that day.

Late-evening shoppers outside Forum Mall in Koramangala were taken by surprise when the first and second-year MBA students called out to them with drum beats to watch their performance.

Themed ‘Shaurya’, the play highlighted the indispensable role played by the police by imagining a day without them – drunk-drivers knocking down pedestrians, drug peddlers selling in the open, unruly traffic and general chaos. It talked about how tough a police officer’s life was.

With jingles and slogans, they urged the audience to remember the defence and police personnel who died fighting the terrorists.

There was an interesting depiction of the parliament, in which legislators were shown barking and behaving like dogs while hurling accusations of corruption at each other instead of discussing the issue of compensating police officers’ families. The enthusiasm of the performers drew people in. Rakshit Saxena, an IT professional working in the City, said “Plays like this are a good thing, because people tend to forget.”

Adding to this, his colleague, Priyanka Sarkar said, “26/11 has become nothing but a date for us. The theme was interesting because it is true, we don’t give the police the respect they deserve. The performance was also good.”

Faraz Ahsan, a second year student who helped organise the play, said “Every year on 26/11, the Social Responsibility Committee and the Dramatics Club of our college performs a play. Last year, it was about humanity, to encourage people to come forward and help accident victims instead of just walking by. This year, we decided to honour the police officers who lost their lives that day.”