‘The terrorist was behind us and was shooting’

Forty-seven-year-old KG Prasad works with Universal Print Systems Ltd, Chennai. He survived a 8-hour ordeal in the Taj Mahal Hotel. This is his story.

Prasad with daughter

“The MD of the company I work for, and I had been invited to Mumbai to meet with a partner from the UK – we were supposed to sign an agreement that focused on jobs for India. Our 4pm meeting at JW Marriot went off successfully and at 6.30 pm, our UK partner invited us to join him for a celebration at the Taj where he was staying. Initially, we wanted to invite him to our hotel instead but then we thought that it wouldn’t be correct to make him travel and so we went to the Taj. We reached there at 8 pm and in half an hour, we were sitting by the pool and had ordered a couple of drinks. Then, just as we were about to raise a toast, we heard some noise in the background. We thought they were crackers. The hotel was crowded and a lot of guests were coming in.

We heard the noise approaching and saw a couple of people running. When they were about 100 feet away I saw sparks and fire. I realised that it was gunfire. I said ‘Run’ and all of us got up and ran. By the time I reached the front lobby, I realised that the terrorist was behind us and was shooting. He was probably shooting at the people behind us, the people in front of him.

We climbed to the first floor and went to the Sea Lounge where there were a couple of guests. They didn’t know what was happening. We told them and the staff asked all of us to lie down. There were about 25 people in the room including a couple of old ladies who were completely panic-stricken. The doors were locked and the lights were switched off. We heard the staff ringing up and talking to people outside the room. We could also hear screaming and shouts and bombs echoing outside. Some people were getting calls from people who were telling them what was happening. I did not call my family but spoke to my brother who kept me informed about the events unfolding on TV. But my cell phone battery soon went dead.

In between, there was one shot on that left a big hole in the door. That was probably because a terrorist had tried to shoot somebody who was running up the stairs to save himself. After that, he was somehow distracted or was focusing on somebody else because he didn’t try to approach the door.

By now it was about midnight. Everyone was trying to contact people outside. But you couldn’t talk. You had to murmur and whisper. People were lying on the ground and putting pillows on their heads. Some of them had not switched to silent mode and I had to tell them. Oh, it was terrible. I have high blood pressure and my boss is highly diabetic. Both of us hadn’t eaten lunch that day but at that moment, neither of us thought about any of that. We didn’t blank out and our heads weren’t spinning. In fact, the terror of the situation was so great that we didn’t feel like we had any ailments.

At around 2am, the dome caught fire and there was smoke everywhere. At one point, we could hear the terrorists approaching. We tried to block the door with tables and chairs.
At 2.30am, the fire brigade was trying to put out the blaze and the sprinklers came on. By then, the commandoes had come in and they had shot or captured one or two of the terrorists. A few of us went near the window and tried to wave and catch the attention of the fire brigade but it was difficult because the glass was smoky. But luckily, somebody saw us.

At around 4.30am, all of us, except for a very elderly lady and a gentleman who had a broken hip, who were later brought down by a fire lift, got down through a fire brigade ladder. We were rescued after the HLL group and a marriage party got out. Those six hours were nightmarish.

Once we got out, there was no bus or any means of transport for us to take. We could not take the chance of going anywhere by ourselves so we waited till the sun came up and then walked until we got a taxi. We dropped our British friend at the Taj Land’s End before we went back to our own hotel.
Though the ordeal is over and I’m trying to put on a brave face, I know the experience has affected me. At night, a single sound can make me hear those gunshots again. I haven’t slept in the last four days and I haven’t been able to enjoy a good meal either. Nothing has been possible. I was stuck there for just eight hours. Imagine those who were in there for 48 hours. I’m trying to think of this as an incident that has made me braver.

As told to Manjula Narayan