Uncertainty grips India's Mumbai after attacks

MUMBAI (Reuters) - People dived for cover or ducked down behind cars on the streets of Mumbai as a cracking noise snapped in the air.

Policemen cocked their guns, took up positions and scoured the rooftops of buildings for attackers. There were none.

No one could say what the sound was and this was an area far from places where commandos were fighting Islamist militants.

But fear was palpable after a series of attacks in the city that killed 124 people and wounded almost 300 at its railway stations and its two top luxury hotels.

"When you have a terrorist shooting down people in stations and on roads, how can anyone feel safe any more?" asked shopkeeper Pankaj Angre as others on the street nodded in agreement.

"This attack is different because it's not a car bomb or a fixed target. This time people have been attacked where they are most vulnerable -- on roads and at railway stations.

"There is an atmosphere of fear, anger and suspicion.

The city of almost 18 million prides itself as living on the edge. It is at the vanguard of India's emerging economic power and the base the Bollywood film industry, but it is also home to organized crime syndicates and abject poverty.

It has been the target of militant attacks before, including bomb blasts in 1993 that killed at least 260 people and wounded hundreds more at the stock exchange and other landmarks.

Just two years ago, more than 180 people died when Islamist militants bombed commuter trains used by millions of people every day.

But Mumbai recovered quickly from those attacks.

"UNCANNY KNACK FOR NORMALCY"

On Friday, streets were deserted across much of downtown southern Bombay, where real estate is among the most expensive in the world. Shops were closed and many people stayed away from offices.

But hundreds clustered around the locations where the commandos were engaged in action, held back by police.

Elsewhere the city appeared to be functioning as usual. Trains on the city's rail network, the lifeblood of the metropolis, were running on time.

In the morning, regulars still walked down the seaside promenade in front of the Tribent-Oberoi hotel.

But people were angry, said Prahlad Kakkar, an advertisement guru and a prominent Mumbai resident.

"They are helpless and scared like never before because of the nature of the attack. The fear has come home, that it can be me next."

Others said what normalcy was there was sprang from the need for the city's vast number of poor to continue the daily grind.

"It's more about momentum of life. Momentum of survival," said Rahul Bose, a prominent Bollywood actor.

"But this is the last straw. Now it looks like people can stroll the shores with bags full of bombs and grenades and the police can't do a thing.

(Additional reporting by Rina Chandran)

(Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan and Alistair Scrutton)