The Hindu Business Line : The two scarred landmarks

Mumbai, Nov. 28 It was on Wednesday November 26 around 9.45 p.m. when I was in the midst of finishing dinner that my wife got a call from Naveena, our daughter-in-law, who is a journalist, informing us that certain parts of South Mumbai had been attacked. She and my son Satyan were on their way to Sterling Cinema near CST for a late night show, when she got a call from her friend who asked her to return home as the CST area had been cordoned off due to an attack.

Eventually they found the show was cancelled and they returned home; we realised how lucky we were when TV channels showed the Metro Cinema area being attacked by terrorists.

The night itself was not very peaceful, as we kept on hearing some blasts from time to time. Though my house is a few kilometres from Colaba and CST, the sound of the blast was very clear, but we were not sure about the direction. Meanwhile all the TV channels were busy showing the different locations that were under attack and then it dawned on me how close the area of attack is from my daily routine.

Every morning on the way to my office I pass through the Oberoi Hotel and park my car in the vicinity of the Taj Mahal Hotel; now both these hotels were under attack. It is horrifying to see what is happening.

I have so many memories associated with both the hotels. As one who has grown up in Bombay, Taj has been a part of life and in recent years it has been a ritual to go to Taj every Tuesday afternoon for Rotary meeting. I don’t know what is in store for the coming Tuesdays. I have special memories of Oberoi where I got married in October 1974 and even stayed for a night on the 30th floor of the hotel.

My family has been directly impacted by the events of last two days as my office is located almost mid-way between Taj Mahal Hotel and Nariman House in Colaba and now it is out of bound till the operations are over.

I had never dreamt that a day would come when the two landmarks of Mumbai would face such a disaster. Many persons have lost their life and still the tragedy is far from over, something I would have never imagined except in the movies.

The author is a practising Company Secretary.

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