By Jeff Lipton
Vadhan¹s grandmother, Barbara White, was on a plane from London and was heading back to her home in Florida when news of the plot broke.
³I just didn¹t want to think about it,² Vadhan said from her home on Mara Court last Friday. ³I didn¹t want my mind going there.²
British authorities broke up the sinister plot, which would have involved mixing liquid chemicals and then detonating the explosives in midair. Officials said it could have resulted in the loss of more than 3,000 lives. Dozens of suspects have been arrested in Britain and Pakistan, with more arrests pending.
You can¹t blame Vadhan for feeling a pain in the pit of her stomach when she heard newscasts of the terrorists¹ plot. After all, her mother, Kristin White of Manhattan, was a passenger on Flight 93 on Sept. 11, 2001, when the plane crashed in a Pennsylvanian field as passengers tried to wrest control of the plane from terrorists, who apparently wanted to guide it into the White House. The heroism of passengers on that flight was recently portrayed in the widely acclaimed movie ³Flight 93.² Vadhan¹s mother was on her way to vacation in wine country in San Francisco aboard the fateful flight.
She said her grandmother was on vacation on her way back from London in mid-August when the latest threat of terrorism was thwarted. She said that when her grandmother returned home safely, she spoke to her to make sure everything was okay. Her grandmother told her passengers were hit with major inconveniences such as more extensive baggage checks and were banned from carrying some liquid items on board, but they understood the delays.
³It¹s just become a way of life now,² Vadhan, the 10-year resident of Atlantic Beach, said of the threat of terrorism. ³It¹s not going to go away, even though we want to make the world a safer place for future generations. We¹re not going to make it safer for them if we try to forget about it.²
She said the so-called ³shoe-bomber,² Richard Reid, who was convicted and sentenced to life, might not have been stopped by passengers aboard their plane had they not learned from the Flight 93 tragedy.
On top of all that, Vadhan added that her son was born on Feb. 26, 1993, when terrorists drove a vehicle packed with explosives into the World Trade Center, leveling the underground of the building and killing six victims and injuring more than 1,000 others.
She said as the anniversary of Sept. 11 approaches she braces herself for a full range of emotions she knows she will experience. ³As the weather gets more like it was on Sept. 11, you can¹t help but feel it in your gut.
³I think as the years go by, the families [of Sept. 11 victims], for the most part, want to move on with their lives and put it [the tragedy] behind them. It¹s more comfortable to try to forget about it. I guess [a part] of me wants to forget about it and a lot more than half wants me not to forget about it. I experienced it second-hand and there¹s a tremendous responsibility to remind everyone about it to prevent it from happening again.
³Life is less difficult if I didn¹t talk to the press and I let it fade into the past,² she said. ³But the problem is not going to go away and we¹re not making it safer for the next generation, to forget about the horrors of that day.²
She described her mother as an ³accomplished person throughout her life.² She said her mother was not one of the many who called their loved ones during the flight to let them know about the hijackers aboard the plane. ³I¹m sure she was focused on the task at hand,² Vadhan said of her mother, whom she said was probably thinking about ways the passengers could overpower the terrorists on board the plane.
She said she saw the movie ³Flight 93,² which she said did a marvelous job of portraying what went on inside the plane, as well as the tremendous responsibility of air traffic controllers.
Vadhan said it will also be difficult to watch the latest movie on the tragedy, Oliver Stone¹s ³World Trade Center,² but she will probably view it privately with her family.
In addition, she said the tapes that have been released of the emergency calls from the Twin Towers from the victims trapped need to be heard. ³I¹m sure families want to hear anything they can about what happened to their loved ones,² she said.
She said when the anniversary of Sept. 11 rolls around it is always ³bittersweet,² because painful memories of the horrific day flood back, but it¹s also a way to memorialize those who were lost in the terrorist attacks.
³I¹ve definitely learned from it and I¹ve moved on,² she said. ³After five years, [the anniversary] is still a very difficult time. But I found a way to balance my emotions. I¹ve committed myself to remembering and living with it gracefully and with dignity.²
Comments about this story? Jlipton@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 210.
