'Mumbaikars don't care a damn about security' (One Year after 26/11)

By Quaid Najmi, Mumbai, Nov 22 : A year after 26/11, well known freelance writer Bhisham Mansukhani, who lived through a nightmare of a lifetime at the Taj Mahal Hotel, feels nothing has changed. Mumbai residents still care two hoots about security, he says.

"The Mumbaikars are their usual complacent lot, nobody cares a damn about security, they go about their usual business of making money and having fun," Mansukhani told IANS.

"I always wonder what use are all these silent protests and candlelight marches - they are a sheer waste of time by people far away from reality.

"Mumbaikars continue to sit on their problems, people who lost their near and dear ones will continue to grieve and the others will continue to live as usual," Mansukhani, a popular face in Mumbai's hospitality circuit, said with a trace of bitterness in his voice.

Clad in his best suit, Mansukhani was attending a friend's wedding at the Taj Mahal Palace and Tower Hotel on the night of 26/11, 2008.

All was calm, normal and well as he entered the hotel's lobby, walked past the shopping arcade to the Ball Room on the first floor where the wedding was being held.

There were nearly 300 other guests, all looking forward to a good time at the marriage, in the cool, early winter night.

"Suddenly, there were loud bursts of firing - we all thought it was the fireworks for the wedding and ignored it. I was sitting at the bar with a couple of friends," Mansukhani, 32, recalled.

And then, as he was enjoying the drink, the glass windows on the Arabian Sea facing walls suddenly shattered with a deafening explosion. Realising it was more than marriage fireworks, he and many others instinctively ducked under the tables to escape the glass shards flying around.

The firing sounds continued to come from below, but upstairs people had no idea what was happening. A helpful Taj staffer quickly guided them to the service corridor on the backside of the Ball Room from where around 30 people were taken to the new Taj Tower building.

"The lights were still on and we could at least move around swiftly. Then there was some firing from the opposite direction and one of the people in our group got a bullet in his stomach. We learnt that he died a couple of days later in hospital," Mansukhani said.

Around 1.30 a.m., nearly four hours after the incident, the Taj staff made attempts to launch an evacuation from the new wing. However, it had to be aborted since some VIPs had to be escorted out first.

Meanwhile, as the battle between the terrorists and security forces continued in the old heritage wing, this group ran helter skelter, trying to find a safe haven.

"We were not alone, many others, including guests and residents, were seen running around terrified and screaming, foreigners and staffers. We managed to hide in one of the banquet rooms in the new wing till the next morning when a group of security personnel managed to come and rescue us. That was nearly 12 hours later," he said.

He lived. At least 166 others didn't make it through the horror of 26/11. Even then, Mansukhani believes, nothing has changed.