16 November,2015 06:40 PM IST | | A Correspondent
In an apparent show of solidarity with France, CST was lit up in the colours of the French flag on Sunday. The only problem — instead of the vertical stripes, the colours were horizontal, which made it look like the Netherlands flag
Mumbai's iconic Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST) on Sunday joined various other monuments across the world to be illuminated in the 'colours' of the French flag in solidarity with the victims of Paris terror attacks.
"Since the 26/11 attacks were of a similar nature and the CST station was also targeted then, the Central Railways has decided to stand by France in this moment of grief and express its support. The CST station will be illuminated with the French flag from between 7 pm and 11 pm," a spokesperson for Central Railways said.
'Black Friday' saw multiple terror attacks on bars, restaurants, a concert hall and a stadium in Paris on November 13, in which 129 people were killed.
The proverb "hell is full of good meanings, but heaven is full of good works" is just right for Indian Railways, Sine the due to similarity between the French and the Dutch flag, the railway authorities goofed up. They lit up CST in red, white and blue horizontally, which meant that it was the colours of the Dutch flag that were being displayed in solidarity with the 'Paris attacks'.
(JUST TO CLARIFY: The French 'tricolore' consists of three vertical bands of equal width, displaying the country's national colours: Blue, White, and Red. The blue band is positioned nearest the flag-staff, the white in the middle, and the red on the outside. The Dutch 'tricolour' flag is red, white, and blue, placed horizontally.)
The error by Mumbai Railway was doubly shocking and tragic since CST had been one of the sites of the 26/11 attacks and Sunday's gesture was a show of solidarity with the victims of 13/11 in Paris. Also the image being shared all over the world didn't do India any good.
The 'goof up' naturally led to several people taking to the various social media platforms to castigate the Mumbai Railway authorities and poke fun at them.
The Central Railway officials decided to respond to the Twitter users with a 'clarification'. The Chief Public Relations Officer (CPRO) of CR, Narendra Patil tweeted that they were always talking about the 'French colors, not flag'. He even pointed to some other iconic monuments from around the world to corroborate their point.
Actually, the exact quote was "The CST station will be illuminated "with the French flag" from between 7 pm and 11 pm." It was not "colours of the French flag".
Luckily for CR, they did have some supporters on Twitter who defended them.