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WORLD NEWS Saturday 24 November 2018

10 years on, Mumbai moves on from attacks but scars remain

By VINEETA DEEPAK It is important to keep the
Associated Press memories of the attack
MUMBAI, India (AP) — Ten alive to "demonstrate to
years ago, chef Raghu the world that this should
Deora stood face-to-face not happen again," Chhat-
with death. wal says.
He was in the kitchen of the Wearing his chef hat and
Taj Mahal Palace hotel's a half-smile, Deora admits
private club, The Cham- that life has changed post
bers, when four gunmen 26/11, as the attacks are
walked in with assault rifles known in India. He says the
and sprayed the guests terror attacks have made
and hotel staff with bullets. Mumbai more security con-
He tried to hide, but his ef- scious and aware of its vul-
forts were for naught. nerabilities.
"I was found out by the ter- "I will look at the bags lying
rorists. They got me out. on a bench twice. Before I
Me, along with two more would not do that," he says.
guests, we were made to After the attack, the ho-
stand in line and we were tel upgraded its security
shot point blank," he says. with more private armed
On Nov. 26, 2008, India's guards, sophisticated bag-
financial capital Mumbai gage and X-ray scanners
was turned into a war zone and metal detectors at the
by a group of Pakistani In this Nov 17, 2018 photo, the iconic Taj Mahal Palace hotel, the epicenter of the 2008 terror entrance.
gunmen who launched attacks that killed 166 people, with its imposing, red-tiled dome, overlooks the Gateway of India "Post 26/11, we spent a lot
coordinated attacks in the monument, left, in Mumbai, India. Associated Press of money with the help of
heart of the city. They tar- an international organiza-
geted two luxury hotels, to a hospital. It took him "I don't think 10 years is long pled with the diplomatic tion in improving our secu-
a Jewish center, a tourist more than three months to enough to forget if one was aftermath of the attack, rity and safety standards,"
restaurant and a crowded recover. ever able to forget this dark Taj Mahal Palace staff and says Chhatwal.
train station. Three days of The near-death experience moment in the history," says management channeled The man in charge of keep-
carnage killed 166 people, has given the 44-year old Puneet Chhatwal, manag- their grief into getting the ing the majestic building
including foreign tourists, chef a new perspective on ing director and CEO of The hotel back on its feet as secure is 46-year-old Sunil
and wounded hundreds the fragility of life and an Indian Hotels Company, a quickly as possible. The Gajanan Kudyadi, who has
more. easy sense of humor. Tata group subsidiary that ownership group also of- been working at the hotel
The epicenter of the assault "My entire family is from the owns the hotel. "Taj Mum- fered help to hundreds of for 25 years.
was the iconic Taj Mahal army background and no- bai is not just a hotel. It's a survivors and victims' fami- As the security manager
Palace hotel with its impos- body's got shot other than landmark, a monument in lies through the welfare on duty at the time of the
ing, red-tiled dome over- me," he says with a laugh. itself. It was an attack on fund set up in December attack, and someone who
looking the Gateway of Ten years on, there are few Mumbai." 2008. knew the building layout,
India monument. Thirty-one signs of the assault in the India blamed the attack on Parts of the hotel reopened he guided elite comman-
people died inside the ho- 115-year old hotel, which the Pakistani militant group within a month of the at- dos as they chased the
tel, including staff trying to was left ablaze, its opulent Lashkar-e-Taiba, throwing tacks. The heavily dam- gunmen through intense
guide the guests to safety. interior destroyed. relations between the nu- aged palace wing was gunfire and explosions. He
Visceral images of smoke But the events are not for- clear-armed neighbors into reopened in less than two also saved many lives, in-
leaping out of the city land- gotten. A minimally de- a tailspin. Indian officials years after a renovation cluding Deora's.
mark have come to define signed memorial for the accused Pakistan's intelli- that saw a bullet and gre- Making daily rounds of the
the 60-hour siege. victims greets visitors in the gence agency of working nade-scarred spiral stair- very corridors where the
Deora was shot in his ab- hotel lobby. A waterfall with the militant group to case and the blood-splat- gunmen held people hos-
domen and leg. The two cascades down behind mastermind the attack — tered hallways repaired, tage and killed them, the
guests with him were killed, glass, alongside an installa- an allegation Islamabad and oriental carpets and shy and soft-spoken Kudy-
but he was evacuated by tion with names of victims denied. precious artifacts put back adi says he doesn't let it
hotel security and rushed and a tree of life. Even as the country grap- in place. cloud his memory. q