THE VALLEY OF LIFE AND DEATH

THE VALLEY OF LIFE AND DEATH

Rajiv Kapoor's account of the events of Sept. 11, 2001

On Tue Sep 11th, I went to office as usual. I got to the 27th Floor of One World Trade Center and entered from the West side of the floor in the building. I walked to my office and was preparing for a 9 O'clock meeting for a new Project called the Leapfrog initiative.

At 8:45 there was a rumbling and a noise and I heard people cry out "What's Happening?" Then I heard some one else say, "Let's get out of here." There were still noises coming from outside and they could not be explained as on the 27th floor you are quite well insulated from the rest of the world.

I stood up from my cubicle in the North side of the building and looked across the street on the West side to see what was happening. In the building across the street (West Side Highway) the windows are dark in a red stone building. I saw an orange flash reflected in the windows. The explosion was happening about 30 - 40 floors above me to my left. As I walked towards the window to take a clearer look I see a Glass, Steel, Aluminum and other metals flying off my building. It made no sense as what was a fire doing up there?? Anyway deciding that time was of the essence and having seen the building sway from North to South after the original hit also the floor did not feel all that reassuring either.

I made my way to the fire escape. There were a lot of people in the stairway already. I saw a handicapped person in his chair at the stair entrance and looked up to see if any body was helping him. Just then I saw Arvin (Jay) Barrion coming down from the 30th floor. Jay had been one of my fellow business analysts and also interviewed me. He is of Philippine decent and a real hard worker. He looked kind of scared so I joined him.

We were walking down in 2's and people were speaking out to each other. I told Jay that since the World Trade is built with a strong Central support system it does not depend so much on its outer walls for support. I had no idea why I was passing this trivia to him at this time except to make him a little less nervous. I looked around and some ladies looked hysterical and were crying, and some people who were out of breath just waiting to get their breath back. There was an absence of heavy smoke and that was a very good sign. At the 5th floor we encountered water coming out from under the fire door.

There was a lot of water flowing now and my socks were getting wet and I lifted my pants as I ran down as fast as I could while being careful. I exited the stairwell and entered the main lobby of the World Trade Center...

It was devoid of humans except for a couple of security personnel saying " Go down, walk around and go down." There were glass and steel falling and burning things outside. I tried to look but was hurried along and was directed to the Marriott Millennium to walk through there to get to a back entrance away from 1 WTC. There were people in the lobby and I saw Leon my neighbor on a public phone probably to his wife. I walked out with Jay to the street. I turned around and looked up at our building and saw that the fire was on in full force and could not see any cause for the fire. Just to my right stood 2 WTC and there was no damage to it. I heard people say "Oh my God" and a look of fear and horror on their faces as they looked back up.. Security was shouting to keep moving.

Suddenly I heard the sound of a jet plane. One often hears planes flying but this one sounded as if it was flying very low. The sound appeared to be coming from the South, the direction of Varrazano Bridge and the Statue of Liberty. I looked up and saw a blue colored Plane. It appeared to be a Boeing but it was not a Jumbo, but was by no means small. It flew in at high speed and with the wings at an angle flew directly into the heart of 2 WTC.

Then suddenly it disappeared.
It was not in the air and the sheer horror of the action took some time to be absorbed. By the time I could focus there was a huge black hole in the second tower. The first tower was burning and a huge column of black smoke was being blown South East by the wind. Now the second tower was burning too.

As you can imagine after witnessing the extreme act of terrorism there was total fear in the eyes of some of the women who were looking up in shock at the twin towers burning. People panicked and started to run. Glasses were lost so were shoes and Cell Phones. People fell down and got injured in the rush to get away from this senseless act of violence Somebody told me people were jumping from the first tower. I looked up and did peer more closely at the building and I saw a man in a suit falling off one of the high floors on 1 WTC on the West side and I could barely see his arms and legs moving. Then as I continued to look I saw another man falling on the East side of 1 WTC.

Nothing appeared to make sense and I walked off away from the horror heading south.
I had to find a phone to call Sonia ( my wife) and the people with Cell phones were not eager to part with them and some were not working. I decided to go to 59 John Street - Sanjay Sethi's office to call from there. I called Sonia at work and told her that I was all right.

I then called Haworth and spoke to Sunita and my parents. It was Sunita who informed me that there had been an attack on the Pentagon also. It was Sunita who also told me that my building had been hit by an American Airlines plane. While I was talking to Pitaji a loud explosion far away was heard. I told Pitaji that I had to go as Sanjay was saying let us get out of here. The whole building had shaken as if a tremor had gone through it. The lights flickered and I looked at Sandeep and Red and I said that we were better off in the building rather than outside.

We looked outside and a great cloud of grey had entered John Street. It was difficult to see the building across the street. We walked down to the lobby as the security people were making announcements to evacuate 59 John Street. As we were descending the open stairwell to the lobby we saw a strange sight. Grey people were walking in from the street. They were covered from head to toe in cement and other debris powder from the fall of the building. I told Sandeep that this is not a good time to go on the Street and Red also agreed and we walked back up to the office. I called Haworth back as I did not want Pitaji to worry about the abrupt disconnection earlier. Sunita picked up and said that 2 WTC had collapsed. It was now almost an hour after it had caught fire. It is amazing that the towers had managed to withstand direct hits by large commercial jets loaded with high-octane jet fuel. They allowed enough time for a majority of the people to walk out saving thousands of lives.

There are many other details and nuances that I have no time to describe as it was a war zone out there and death came flying from a clear blue day. I have lost the best office that I have ever worked in. The WTC and the World Financial Center with their inter connected walkways and huge atriums and the Hudson made it the ideal place to work. Now they are no more and there is a great hole in the place that was my heart as how could something so beautiful be so wantonly destroyed?

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THE VALLEY OF LIFE AND DEATH Rajiv Kapoor's account of the events of Sept. 11, 2001
	On Tue Sep 11th, I went to office as usual. I got to the 27th Floor of One World Trade Center and entered from the West side of the floor in the building. I walked to my office and was preparing for a 9 O'clock meeting for a new Project called the Leapfrog initiative. At 8:45 there was a rumbling and a noise and I heard people cry out "What's Happening?" Then I heard some one else say, "Let's get out of here." There were still noises coming from outside and they could not be explained as on the 27th floor you are quite well insulated from the rest of the world.
I stood up from my cubicle in the North side of the building and looked across the street on the West side to see what was happening. In the building across the street (West Side Highway) the windows are dark in a red stone building. I saw an orange flash reflected in the windows. The explosion was happening about 30 - 40 floors above me to my left. As I walked towards the window to take a clearer look I see a Glass, Steel, Aluminum and other metals flying off my building. It made no sense as what was a fire doing up there?? Anyway deciding that time was of the essence and having seen the building sway from North to South after the original hit also the floor did not feel all that reassuring either.
I made my way to the fire escape. There were a lot of people in the stairway already. I saw a handicapped person in his chair at the stair entrance and looked up to see if any body was helping him. Just then I saw Arvin (Jay) Barrion coming down from the 30th floor. Jay had been one of my fellow business analysts and also interviewed me. He is of Philippine decent and a real hard worker. He looked kind of scared so I joined him.
We were walking down in 2's and people were speaking out to each other. I told Jay that since the World Trade is built with a strong Central support system it does not depend so much on its outer walls for support. I had no idea why I was passing this trivia to him at this time except to make him a little less nervous. I looked around and some ladies looked hysterical and were crying, and some people who were out of breath just waiting to get their breath back. There was an absence of heavy smoke and that was a very good sign. At the 5th floor we encountered water coming out from under the fire door.
There was a lot of water flowing now and my socks were getting wet and I lifted my pants as I ran down as fast as I could while being careful. I exited the stairwell and entered the main lobby of the World Trade Center... It was devoid of humans except for a couple of security personnel saying " Go down, walk around and go down." There were glass and steel falling and burning things outside. I tried to look but was hurried along and was directed to the Marriott Millennium to walk through there to get to a back entrance away from 1 WTC. There were people in the lobby and I saw Leon my neighbor on a public phone probably to his wife. I walked out with Jay to the street. I turned around and looked up at our building and saw that the fire was on in full force and could not see any cause for the fire. Just to my right stood 2 WTC and there was no damage to it. I heard people say "Oh my God" and a look of fear and horror on their faces as they looked back up.. Security was shouting to keep moving.
Suddenly I heard the sound of a jet plane. One often hears planes flying but this one sounded as if it was flying very low. The sound appeared to be coming from the South, the direction of Varrazano Bridge and the Statue of Liberty. I looked up and saw a blue colored Plane. It appeared to be a Boeing but it was not a Jumbo, but was by no means small. It flew in at high speed and with the wings at an angle flew directly into the heart of 2 WTC.
Then suddenly it disappeared. It was not in the air and the sheer horror of the action took some time to be absorbed. By the time I could focus there was a huge black hole in the second tower. The first tower was burning and a huge column of black smoke was being blown South East by the wind. Now the second tower was burning too.
As you can imagine after witnessing the extreme act of terrorism there was total fear in the eyes of some of the women who were looking up in shock at the twin towers burning. People panicked and started to run. Glasses were lost so were shoes and Cell Phones. People fell down and got injured in the rush to get away from this senseless act of violence Somebody told me people were jumping from the first tower. I looked up and did peer more closely at the building and I saw a man in a suit falling off one of the high floors on 1 WTC on the West side and I could barely see his arms and legs moving. Then as I continued to look I saw another man falling on the East side of 1 WTC.
Nothing appeared to make sense and I walked off away from the horror heading south. I had to find a phone to call Sonia ( my wife) and the people with Cell phones were not eager to part with them and some were not working. I decided to go to 59 John Street - Sanjay Sethi's office to call from there. I called Sonia at work and told her that I was all right. I then called Haworth and spoke to Sunita and my parents. It was Sunita who informed me that there had been an attack on the Pentagon also. It was Sunita who also told me that my building had been hit by an American Airlines plane. While I was talking to Pitaji a loud explosion far away was heard. I told Pitaji that I had to go as Sanjay was saying let us get out of here. The whole building had shaken as if a tremor had gone through it. The lights flickered and I looked at Sandeep and Red and I said that we were better off in the building rather than outside. We looked outside and a great cloud of grey had entered John Street. It was difficult to see the building across the street. We walked down to the lobby as the security people were making announcements to evacuate 59 John Street. As we were descending the open stairwell to the lobby we saw a strange sight. Grey people were walking in from the street. They were covered from head to toe in cement and other debris powder from the fall of the building. I told Sandeep that this is not a good time to go on the Street and Red also agreed and we walked back up to the office. I called Haworth back as I did not want Pitaji to worry about the abrupt disconnection earlier. Sunita picked up and said that 2 WTC had collapsed. It was now almost an hour after it had caught fire. It is amazing that the towers had managed to withstand direct hits by large commercial jets loaded with high-octane jet fuel. They allowed enough time for a majority of the people to walk out saving thousands of lives.
There are many other details and nuances that I have no time to describe as it was a war zone out there and death came flying from a clear blue day. I have lost the best office that I have ever worked in. The WTC and the World Financial Center with their inter connected walkways and huge atriums and the Hudson made it the ideal place to work. Now they are no more and there is a great hole in the place that was my heart as how could something so beautiful be so wantonly destroyed?
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