Mumbai hits gym, seeks counseling

By Rina Chandran and Shilpa Jamkhandikar

MUMBAI (Reuters) - Days after militant attacks killed 183 people in India's financial capital, residents are hitting the gym, calling their psychiatrists and nervously making plans to meet friends to help relieve stress.

Offices and schools in Mumbai opened Monday, and several were offering counseling sessions to help overcome the shock of hearing gunfire and blasts in their neighborhoods, or seeing graphic images on TV or in newspapers.

"My first class yesterday was absolutely packed," said Namita Jain, who runs aerobics and yoga classes near the luxury Taj Mahal hotel, where commandos Saturday finally gunned down the last of four militants who besieged it for three days.

Tuesday, Jain's yoga class was nearly full, with regulars exchanging notes on people they knew and making tentative plans to meet for lunch or tea.

"People had been sitting at home glued to their television sets all these days, and they wanted to get out, and in some way get back to life," she said

The Taj Mahal hotel and the Trident-Oberoi hotel, where gunmen held guests and employees hostage, are offering counseling support to their employees also.

"There's definitely more people seeking help for stress, panic, depression, insomnia," said Harish Shetty, a psychiatrist. "Children don't want to go to school, people want to stay indoors and not go out much."

The impact of the horrific attack was not limited to Mumbai. In New Delhi, Sanjeev Gopalakrishan said his 10-year-old son was having difficulty coming to grips with the attacks.

"He refused to sleep Sunday, saying he was worried about his forthcoming examinations, but confided to his mother the next morning that he was worried that terrorists would come and attack us," Gopalakrishnan told Reuters.

Mohit, a Taj employee trapped in the hotel who lost one of his colleagues, said not talking about it was helping.

"I have been asked to talk about my experience and his death so many times ... but every time I talk about it, it all comes rushing back to me. Please don't ask me to relive the nightmare again," he said, and declined to give his second name.

Some people are turning to social networks, or organizing and participating in protests and vigils as a way of coping.

Numerous candlelight vigils and protests have been held around Mumbai, with residents remembering victims and expressing anger at political inaction, apparent intelligence lapses and slow reaction by security forces.

A countrywide protest to express "anguish and anger" was planned for Wednesday, according to e-mail and text messages circulating around the city.

The Art of Living Foundation, a spiritual outfit that focuses on meditation and rhythmic breathing, is offering a three-day trauma relief workshop for a "calmer state of mind."

(Editing by Bryson Hull and Bill Tarrant)