Between August/September 2001, Sharma was in New York, and in great spirits. Pakistani cricketer Wasim Akram had sponsored him as the official photographer of the Double Wicket Cricket Tournament at New Jersey. In addition to this job, the Press Trust of India and a national Indian magazine assigned him to officially cover the US Open that was to begin at the end of August and conclude on September 9 that year. Three days later, on September 12, was Sharma’s 39th birthday. On an impulse, on September 10, Sharma spent the whole day taking hundreds of shots of the Twin Towers.

Manhattan’s skyline would never be the same, as the fumes from the debris of the Twin Towers illustrated hours after the terror attack

A day later, two airplanes, hijacked by the Osama bin Laden-led terror group, Al Qaeda, crashed into the Twin Towers. The attack shook the US, and the rest of the world, and Sharma realised he was one of the last people to have photographed the iconic structures.