I walked into Taj and was petrified

The day terrorists declared war on Mumbai, I was on leave. When the news broke around 10.30 pm I didn’t want to miss the action. I made a dash for Leopold Cafe from Lower Parel where I lived. But it was all quiet there. So I rushed to the Taj only to be told by the policemen outside the Gateway entrance not to go in. That didn’t stop me from going to the south entrance of the hotel meant for staff.

I ran into another posse of policemen opposite this entrance across the road. They warned me not to the cross the road. I heard that the terrorists had just lobbed a grenade somewhere inside the hotel. I ignored the warnings and crossed the road. The policemen shouted but nobody dared to run after me and stop me. I went in.

At the lobby door, policemen were taking positions. For many hours I wandered around inside the hotel. I came back to the lobby around 3 am. I found it was filled with smoke. I heard an explosion somewhere in the hotel. Pieces of glass were flying in the air in all directions. From above I could hear gunshots.

“Don’t move,” a cop told me in a tough voice. “Sit behind there,” he said, pointing to a pillar. Then I saw a bunch of commandos troop in by the south entrance. I relaxed.  .
At 3.15 am another huge blast went off somewhere inside. I heard people screaming, “Help! Help! Help!” My left thigh was hit by a piece of glass. I stayed put and waited for an hour. I was petrified to see what looked like fireballs fall from above, breaking glass and making ear-splitting sounds.

Soon people, including the hotel staff, were jumping from the second-floor windows. They ignored pleas by the firemen not to jump. But nobody listened to them. Suddenly I decided I had had enough. I walked out. It was 4.30 am.