Filed under: Cynthia Chandran | Tags: attacks, Mumbai, Taj Mahal Palace Hotel, terrorists
“I no longer want to see India as I feel it is unsafe anymore”. Randeep Hooda, a British born Indian and an undergraduate student in University of Westminster had never been to India and were planning to visit Mumbai during Christmas holidays.
Mr.Hooda’s sentiments clearly bring out the frustration about the 26/11 attacks. Like Mr.Hooda, there are several Indian students in the University of Westminster’s Harrow campus appalled at the terrorist’s attacks in Mumbai. Majority of them criticised the Indian government’s failure to pre-empt the attack and the time taken to flush out the terrorists.
The 26/11 attacks have killed more than 170 people and scores of people injured. Two of Mumbai’s best five star hotels, Taj Mahal Palace and Oberoi Trident, a posh café, Leopold and a busy railway station were the few places the terrorists had struck.
Anxious moments at the Oberoi Trident Hotel.
Photograph with special permission from Indiavision News Channel.
One of the Master’s student who is doing Public Relations in Westminster, Misha Bothra were literally on tenterhooks as her close friend who was working as a jewellery designer with Thribhuvandas Bhimji Zaveri (TBZ) showroom in Taj was trapped for more than 24 hours.
“Nidhi Thakker was getting married next week and the day the terrorists struck was her last working day at the shop and she escaped from the gallows of death very narrowly”.
Nidhi had to hide under a jewellery display table until the National Security Guards (NSG) stormed in to save her and her colleagues.
Nidhi and her friends were led to the front of the hotel and put in a bus safely. She had severe leg cramps due to the crouching posture and was glad to take in fresh air.
Venting out the frustrations
Sanjay Singh, a computer animation undergraduate student echoed his sentiments, “No matter what the terrorists do to terrorise people, I being a Mumbaiker will move on with my life. I want all terrorists to be shot dead without giving them a chance democratically”.
Meanwhile, Mumbai returned to normal track with markets and schools opening and heavy traffic on the streets.
The violence, which began on Wednesday night, finally ended on Saturday morning, when Indian troops killed the last of the gunmen at the Taj Mahal Palace hotel.
Filed under: Cynthia Chandran | Tags: 1903, attacks, CNN, guests, Taj Mahal Palace Hotel
A visit to Mumbai is never complete without a photograph taken underneath the Gateway of India monument. The next best attraction would be posing for a photograph just opposite to the landmark Gateway of India; the imposing red domed The Taj Mahal Palace Hotel.
The view is panoramic as it is just opposite to the Arabian Sea. Among the many skyscrapers, Taj was the best in all its grandeur in Mumbai and always had an iconic status among the Mumbaiker’s.
I was shocked to see how the hotel looked after the terrorist attacks. From the television footages, I could see that the carnage was beyond what I had expected, with dead bodies strewn around. The fourth and sixth floors of the hotel have been completely confined to the flames.
It is reported that now the hotel smells of gunpowder and burnt human flesh with blood stains everywhere.
Taj was built almost 105 years ago by a Parsi Industrialist, Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata, on protest against his entry being denied to the Apollo Hotel, which had a strict Europeans –only policy. According to news agencies, it was built on 1903 to commemorate the arrival of British King George V and his Queen Mary, which had 565 suites.
It had an architecture imposed with grandeur and the Tata group of companies who owns the hotel has sought the help of archeological experts to bring back the old glory.
The bold and the beautiful
The Taj Mahal Palace Hotel had attracted tourists from all around the World. India’s and the World’s elite stayed at the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel, which was a palace in all means. Notable guests who had stayed there include Queen Elizabeth II, Jackie Onassis, Beatle star John Lennon, Mick Jagger et al.
Visiting overseas cricket teams used to stay at the Taj during international matches in Mumbai. The England team had stayed there at the beginning of the current series and was expected to return back to Taj for the now cancelled Mumbai test match.
According to the Tata group of Hotels Chairman, Ratan Tata, it will take more than one year to bring back the past glory of the hotel. The damage caused to the hotel is beyond expectations and the loss estimated is five hundred billion rupees.
In an interview with CNN, Ratan Tata shared the details of the meeting he had with the general manager of the hotel who lost his entire family in the attack. When Tata conveyed the sorrow for the great loss the reply he got from his general manager was ‘Sir, we are going to beat this. We are going to build this Taj back into what it was. We’re standing with you. We will not let this event take us down.’
I was speechless with grief towards the gentleman’s brevity.
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