This time that day... six years ago.

I worked about a block from the world trade center six years back on this day. It was a quiet day and the corporate rumor was that they were going to announce a restructuring of our unit hence we were all excited... The first plane hit and I remember looking out the window of the 12th floor of our building and noticed that something did not seem right as the whoosh preceding the seconds before the explosion was unexplained. By the time the second plane crashed, someone on our floor said that it might be a good idea to evacuate. I remember running down a dark stairwell and onto the streets out below to be greeted by ticker tape like graffiti that looked like a cross between dust and grey snowflakes - later I would realize that this was the insulation coming off the outer shells of the towers. The fires were pretty horrible up on the towers and someone told me to look out for people jumping out of the windows as if it were some kind of a circus spectacle. I did not have the stomach to look up after that. I also remember leading a pregnant co-worker to safety after we decided to trudge out of Manhattan just after the first tower fell - she later stayed the night in my in-laws home over in Brooklyn. For some reason the one thing that I can’t seem to forget was the snowflake like dust that seemed to settle all over lower Manhattan in the moments after the towers fell. It turned that 10’ o clock morning into a winter evening in such a short time…

That remains my strongest memory of that day...


I love to watch this video that showcased the feeling of that time six years back...

Sunil, 'Raising at Trinity', digital photograph, Sept 11th 2007