Last December, my siblings and I stood in front of the Gateway to India in Mumbai, snapping pics and gawking at the luxury cars parked in front of the famous Taj Hotel.

On Wednesday, we watched in horror from our home in Pennsylvania as that same spot had been overrun by terrorists. Mumbai, the city of my birth, had seemingly been overtaken by a small group of gunmen bent on inflicting a maximum level of carnage.

As my horror turned into fear for loved ones in the city and anger over how this could happen in one of the most heavily guarded cities in the world, I kept thinking to myself, "Please don't let this become India's 9/11."

I was in no way comparing what happened in South Mumbai to the attacks on the Twin Towers and the number of deaths they caused, but of the reaction I feared from Indians, particularly my fellow Hindus.

India has been a target for violent extremists for years, given its Hindu majority, its rising political and economic sway in a region bounded by impoverished and unstable Muslim countries (Pakistan and Bangladesh), as well as its stubbornness in finding a long-lasting peace in Kashmir.

But Wednesday's attacks were especially brazen and had done what none of the previous attacks - remote-controlled train blasts, suicide bombings in crowded shopping bazaars, and machine gun attacks on Indian parliament - could do: paralyze a city and country with fear. It seemed as if Indians, who have often demonstrated an unparalleled resilience to violent attacks and a willingness to move forward, were shaken to the core.My relatives in India and in the United States were already quick to fix the blame: India's "tolerant" attitude towards its 150 million Muslims.

And here's why I fear this attack could be India's 9/11.

In the weeks and months after the September 11, 2001 attacks, Americans showed unity and resilience. But that unity and resilience was slowly replaced by fear, xenophobia and a dramatic shift to the right.

The United States still hasn't overcome its fear and is a textbook example of how a country should not react when confronted with terrorism. Terrorists attack to strike fear and incapacitate a population's ability to function properly.

Following 9/11, many Americans lost their rationality, and fear-mongers were able to take advantage of America's delicate psyche by instigating culture wars. Pretty soon, the 9/11 attacks became a convenient excuse for right-wingers to justify a nativist agenda filled with xenophobia and fear of the Other.

The crippling of America's open-mindedness was a victory for al-Qaida and a loss for the world. One could argue that America's downward spiral accelerated when 9/11 became the centerpiece for neocons' hawkish unilateralism in Iraq and other countries such as Iran and Syria.

In India, where Hindus and Muslims have lived side-by-side for centuries, it's up to people to realize that these attacks were meant to shatter the very resilience that Indians have displayed. I fear, however, that the brazenness of the attacks and their impact on India's self-image as a growing superpower will lead to a post-9/11 atmosphere in the country and exacerbate Hindu resentments and Muslim alienation.

If Indians want to know what to do next following this horrific episode, they just need to remember what they have been doing all these years: look forward and move on.

Otherwise, I'm afraid, India will be doomed to repeat America's mistakes, with much graver consequences.

Murali Balaji teaches at Penn State University.