The diamond trading community in Mumbai, a majority of them Jains, is following the terror raids in Brussels, more closely than most.
<img title="Work goes on as usual at Panchratna, SoBo's diamond hub. Pics/Bipin Kokate" src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/2016/mar/27-Panchratna.jpg" alt="Work goes on as usual at Panchratna, SoBo's diamond hub. Pics/Bipin Kokate" /> Work goes on as usual at Panchratna, SoBo's diamond hub. Pics/Bipin Kokate
Naresh Mehta, secretary of Bharat Diamond Bourse, which has its headquarters at the Bandra Kurla Complex, says, &ldquo;Antwerp is a diamond hub for India. Most of us have relatives there. At least 200 diamond traders from Mumbai and Surat travel to Belgium and Antwerp specifically, every month.&rdquo; Antwerp is just a 1.5-hour road journey from Brussels.
Mehta says there is a sense of disbelief and hurt over the attacks. &ldquo;For, so many people here, Belgium is like second home. We have a Derasar (Jain temple) in Antwerp. Families in Mumbai have members who have been travelling to Belgium since the 1960s (when the diamond hub shifted from Amsterdam to a &ldquo;more liberal and safer&rdquo; Antwerp). We feel inextricably woven into the fabric of that country. In the 1980s, Indians faced competition from Jews in the diamond business, but today, we rule,&rdquo; says Mehta, with a hint of pride that is quickly tempered with sobriety. &ldquo;We are praying for Belgium,&rdquo; he finishes worriedly.
<img title="Dilip Shah" src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/2016/mar/27-Dilip-Shah.jpg" alt="Dilip Shah" /> Dilip Shah
For Sulsha Jhaveri, a member of the diamond community, who is in Mumbai on a holiday, Belgium is home &mdash; she has lived in Antwerp for 36 years. Sulsha&rsquo;s flight to Mumbai took off an hour before blasts shook Brussels airport. &ldquo;Indians don&rsquo;t feel alienated in Belgium. We may be immigrants there, but our community is so well integrated with locals,&rdquo; she says. &ldquo;So many restaurants serve Jain food. Belgian chefs often point out to us that we cannot eat a dish because it has a root vegetable,&rdquo; Sulsha says with a smile. &ldquo;A changed Belgium may await me when I return in a few days. But, whatever it is, it will still be home.&rdquo;
For Shefali Jhaveri, a resident of Walkeshwar who has travelled regularly to Antwerp for three decades to meet her family &mdash; also diamond traders &mdash; the attacks &ldquo;are like a bloody smear on a picture postcard of the most beautiful part of Europe&rdquo;. &ldquo;So many things flash through my mind now, like how safe will it be to go to the Meir (Antwerp's shopping hub)&hellip; It will take some time getting used to the new normal in Belgium,&rdquo; she says.
Dilip Shah, a member of the Mumbai Diamond Association, says the blasts hit a nerve here. &ldquo;The attacks took us back to the day when terror struck the diamond hub of Opera House in 2011. We lost friends in that blast. Back then, a concerned community in Belgium rang us up frantically. This time, it is just the opposite; we are calling them up.&rdquo;
The city&rsquo;s airport airport and metro attacks in Brussels on Tuesday had left 31 dead and some 300 wounded. Pressing ahead with a huge European terror crackdown, the Belgian police on Saturday shot a suspect and detained six others. The raids came as investigators said they had uncovered new evidence of a European jihadist cell tied to the Brussels attacks, November&rsquo;s Paris attacks and a new French plot

The diamond trading community in Mumbai, a majority of them Jains, is following the terror raids in Brussels, more closely than most

Brussels blasts hit close to Mumbai diamond community's hearts and home

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The diamond trading community in Mumbai, a majority of them Jains, is following the terror raids in Brussels, more closely than most

Brussels blasts hit close to Mumbai diamond community's hearts and home

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Brussels blasts hit close to Mumbai diamond community's hearts and home

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