The Hindu Business Line : With agony writ large, they await word on colleagues trapped inside

Mumbai, Nov. 27 Pigeons fluttered off the imposing Taj Mahal hotel, every time the sound of repeated gun-shots or blasts broke the stillness over one of Mumbai skyline’s most recognisable buildings that are now under siege from gun-men.

But far from the police cordon and hordes of general public that had gathered at the promenade lining the sea at the Gateway of India, opposite the hotel - a small group of Taj employees stood huddled together.

Dressed in their official white shirts and black trousers, some still wore marks of the hasty exit they may have been forced to make from the hotel, after terrorists had taken control inside.

And with colleagues possibly still trapped in the hotel, they stood silently watching the daylight nightmare unravel, agony written on their faces. Reports were emerging on the killing of the wife and three children of one of the hotel’s executives.

Unwilling to be drawn into a discussion, some of the representatives identified themselves as senior management with the Tatas and the Taj Group. The younger staff too requested anonymity, at what was clearly a very difficult time for them. They could not confirm whether a senior chef with the hotel had become part of the steadily increasing casualty in the city.

As they stood behind rows of police vans and ambulances, and listened to the constant firing and blasts from within the old and new parts of the hotel, some of them tried to have food brought for them in pink boxes from Taj President, another group hotel located a stone’s throw away. Bottles of Heinz ketchup and Tata’s own Himalayan-brand of water placed near the food-boxes, instead of being signs of normalcy, only accentuated how far from normal the city was on Thursday.

“I have lost several of my colleagues,” said a member of the front-office at Trident Oberoi, the other five-star hotel in the city, also under siege by gun-men. Standing outside the hotel, he said, the hotel’s top management and other colleagues were all standing there, waiting for news on co-workers trapped inside.

“The young boys armed with guns came into the hotel last evening and fired at everyone. They went into the restaurants, firing. There is no security in the hotel that can counter such ammunition,” he said, recounting what colleagues told him.

The gun-men spoke in English and Hindi and asked for people with American and British passports, he said. Some colleagues, corporates and crew members of global airlines are still in the hotel, he said.

But as another night draws on Mumbai’s latest tryst with terror, its residents will have to live with chilling images. Of gun-totting commandos in a security ring outside their hotels. Of lone inmates at the two hotels watching from the windows of their hotel-rooms located on the top floors. And of the heart-crunching image of the raging fire at the iconic old Taj Mahal hotel, on the fateful night.

More Stories on : Terrorism | Hotels | Maharashtra

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