During today’s whirlwind of family, food and fun, we should also pause (as all of India will, today) to remember that today is also the anniversary of the Mumbai terror attacks.

Citizens in the Indian city of Mumbai went to school, college and office as any other day but also paused to honour the memory of the 170 people killed in the devastating 60-hour terror strike last year.

Thousands of commuters rushing to their offices halted to pay respects to those who slaughtered in the attacks on the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST) rail station.

Railway Protection Force (RPF) personnel also laid wreaths inside the station to remember the commuters and their colleagues brutally gunned down by 10 terrorists

And while Chief Minister Ashok Chavan and his cabinet colleagues visited the precincts of the Hotel Trident-Oberoi at Nariman Point to offer homage to the victims killed there, a group of people gathered outside the Leopold Cafe in Colaba – where the first attack was launched on this day a year ago.

Vandana Sood at Beliefnet has some recollections about that tragic day. As she writes,

This year is the first Anniversary of the tragic terrorist attacks is November 26. The date coincides with an important holiday. I know many people on the streets of Mumbai will light a candle in remembrance of those they lost. World over, other people will celebrate Thanksgiving and I hope, truly give thanks, cherish their loved ones and show gratitude. Terror and tragedy can strike anyone and life has no guarantees. But each dawn is a new beginning and anything is possible with a good heart.

Sood’s graduate project on the Mumbai terror attacks can be seen at TheTaxiTakes.com.