9/11 and two important events in the modern history.

9/11/1893

A re-enactment of the speech delivered by Swami Vivekananda

Swami Vivekananda delivered speech in first session of World’s Parliament of Religions which was organised in then World’s Congress Auxiliary Building, Chicago(Now The Art Institute of Chicago, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parliament_of_the...). He addressed the parliament as “Sisters and brothers of America!”. Entire crowd gave him a standing ovation. Sadly nothing was recorded. But an Indian went to USA to address the world was not a small feat to achieve. On 15/11/1983 he said “That has been the difficulty all the while. I am a Hindu. I am sitting in my own little well and thinking that the whole world is my little well. The Christian sits in his little well and thinks the whole world is his well. The Muslim sits in his little well and thinks that is the whole world.” At that time he had the audacity to think Religion not the crying need of India (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_not_the_..., Parliament of the World’s Religions, Chicago., 20/11/1983).

9/11/2001

Original footage and original audio.

NatGeo’s documentary on the same.

Crowds run for shelter after the attack.

Attack on Pentagon

The world was shaken by those terror attacks. In 1999, I can vividly remember the peace and harmony around the world despite of the Kargil attack and supercyclone events. Everyone was crazy about millennium’s last full solar eclipse. I was 9 years old. World was even crazier about Y2K event as people predicted computers wont work properly after 1st Jan 2000. God, I miss those days. One year after, this attack happened. 4 commercial airliners travelling from the northeastern United States to California were hijacked mid-flight by 19 al-Qaeda terrorists. At 8:46AM, North Tower of the World Trade Center complex in Lower Manhattan was hit by American Airlines Flight 11. At 9:03AM(17 mins later), South tower of World Trade Center was hit by United Airlines Flight 175. At 9:37AM, west side of Pentagon was hit by American Airlines Flight 77. United Airlines Flight 93 was flown to Washington. But passengers bravely fought with those terrorists and successfully diverted the flight trajectory. Sadly the plane was crashed in a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, 10:03AM.

If you are a 90s kid then you must be remembering good old days of DD and DD news. We always opened 7:00PM regional news. And I was in tears after seeing those cowardly attacks. That day, and the days followed it was full of news associated with new development, last words of the passengers, harrowing experience by the survivors and casualty of brave police and firefighters. US brethren experienced 2,996 deaths and 25,000 casualties. And these events further gave rise to extreme Islamophobia, mistreatment of anyone who wore a beard and covered head with religious headgear including Sikhs. World had to pay very dearly for those crime. Somebody poured gasoline over the diminishing flames of already burning middle east. I really don’t know what would be the world if those cowardly attacks did not happen. Americans would be accepting the world as their friends. Middle East ruins would have transformed into cities of unfathomable riches like Dubai. We would have seen talented professors like Ali Hajimiri and Behzad Razavi.

They say time and tide wait for none. It either levels an entire civilization or forces the civilization into peace.

The Towering Lights of 9/11 | The New York Times

Nua Khai 9/11/2021
Today, in Western Odisha people celebrate Nua Khai(New Food). They take first crop and offer them to God. Then it is offered to the elders of the village and family. Rest of the day is celebrated with pithas n mithas. And they greet other with “Nua Khai Juhar”. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N...ai

Nua Khai Juhar my beloved dimers