The terrorist attacks in Mumbai, India, which claimed the life of a former University of Maryland professor, struck Indian Americans deeply.
“It’s absolutely shocking and beyond any language or description,” said Sambhu Banik, a clinical psychologist and adjunct professor at Bowie State University and member of the Maryland Commission on Human Relations. “It’s worse than 9/11 to me, because they have targeted 10 locations, and it’s still going on.”
The attacks since Wednesday, in places like the Taj Mahal Hotel, killed more than 150 people and injured more than 300, leaving officials searching for why and how it happened.
Banik, originally from Calcutta but who has friends in Mumbai, was recently appointed by President Bush to serve on Bush’s Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities.
“It doesn’t matter if it’s a Muslim attacking a Hindu or whatever it is: It’s a human killing a human,” said Kalisankar Mallik, the retired founding president of Alliance Inc., a nonprofit vocational and community rehabilitation agency for people with disabilities serving Baltimore and Baltimore, Harford and Howard counties. “We hope there’s change. Gandhi used to always say that change is within yourself.”
Mallik takes annual trips to India to help care for orphans. He and Banik said their friends in Mumbai were not endangered.
Among the dead are former University of Maryland art professor, Alan Scherr, 58, who once lived in Silver Spring, and his daughter Naomi, 13. They were from Faber, Va., according to the Synchronicity Foundation, a Virginia-based meditation group, where Scherr and his wife, Kia, were members.
They were in a Mumbai cafe when they were killed, according to a tribute posted on the foundation’s Web site.
“Alan committed most of his adult life to meditation, spirituality and conscious living. He was a passionate Vedic astrologer and meditation teacher who inspired many people to begin a journey of self-awareness and meditation. He was committed to making a positive difference in the world,” the tribute stated.
The terrorist attacks have been especially hurtful because India has progressed so much in recent years and has become an economic power, Banik said. “These terrorists have created fear, anxiety and tension, so people abroad don’t want to invest in India.”
Local leaders, like Howard County Executive Ken Ulman, saw the benefit on India’s role in the business community by visiting Bangalore in February, part of an area known as India’s “Silicon Valley.”
Ulman toured and praised Prism Microsystems Inc., a leading integrated information technology solutions provider, whose office in the United States is in Columbia.
Baltimore is also known for several quality Indian restaurants, like MemSahib on West Lexington Street.
“It’s very sad that something like this would happen these days, and especially after making so much progress,” said Ron Tuli, owner of MemSahib, whose family hails from Delhi. “It’s unfortunate that innocent people had to suffer.”
Leaders of the Indian community in Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C., planned to meet at the Sri Siva Vishnu Temple in Lanham on Friday evening for prayer.
Click here to see tributes to Alan and Naomi. [email protected]
