The waves still lash the tetra pods off Marine Drive, the pigeons have returned to the Taj and trains are still overcrowded. But there's something about Mumbai that's not the same.

And I'm not even talking about the high security prison for India's prized catch, the layers of security we humbly bow down before or even the promises we know were made only to pacify the anger boiling within then.

I know there are many who want to know what Ajmal Kasab, the only surviving terrorist of 26/11 looks like and how he behaves in court.

I am among the hundred odd journalists who have that limited access. A restricted access to this 21 year old (now that the court has settled this matter) who has been written about so much in the last 6 months.

His photo, splashed across TV screens and newspapers, I know, will forever be etched in my mind. No matter how many times I've seen him in court...that image refuses to go away. Juxtapose that with the man in person and for a fleeting moment one wonders if he was the same man who mindlessly went about mercilessly killing innocents just like his friends did. But that's all it is, a fleeting moment.

This man before me, behaves like a child, sometimes showing absolute disregard for what's happening in court.  Surely he's been trained well, but to what extent, that has now started to sink in.

He wants toothpaste, newspapers and even some perfume. While the first two requests are the norm when it comes to undertrials, the perfume request came as a shock to most of us.

Here is a man the world wants to see punished and punished fast. It's only when he will be brought to book that many victims may start feeling some sense of closure.

The wheels of justice have already started rolling and that is a good sign to begin with. That's not what I can say of most trials in our country. We all know the 1993 serial blasts case took over 13 years to finish. More recently, the 7/11 train blasts case is yet to begin.

So many people, both victims of the 26/11 attack and even citizens who watched the horror on their TV screens, constantly ask why the trial isn't over already. Why the process is taking so long when we have CCTV footage of the attack, eye witnesses accounts, forensic evidence and intercepted call details of the terrorists and their handlers.

Simple, obvious questions with no easy answers.

The answers, fortunately or unfortunately, lie with our politicians who made their entry into the Parliament with gusto on Monday. Perhaps if they show the same enthusiasm in bringing in some much needed changes in our laws, they would have kept some of the promises they made during election 2009.

Till then, Ajmal Kasab will continue to be in our custody and we will keep paying to protect him to make sure he is kept alive to pay the price for every bullet he fired on that horrific night.