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Published: December 3rd 2008
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The Taj on fire
Zoomed in picture. You can see the tower on fire and the red dome. 26th November 2008
I had a 4 a.m. shuttle to Christchurch airport for my flight to Sydney where going through the handbaggage security check in transit I was taken into a side room and searched for explosives, including having a probe with sensor attached linked to a computer used to search my bags for traces of any explosives I might have been in contact with. Must be looking a well-seasoned traveller by now.....
My flight to Mumbai was delayed an hour which seemed a right pain at the time as I was meeting up with Barby and had an airport pick up arranged but at least I could text her and check that was rescheduled.
We were therefore an hour later than planned (just after 10 p.m.) when we set off for Leopolds. I was slightly uneasy as the streets seemed quite quiet. There were only groups of men standing about and I didn't know if this was the norm for a Mumbai night and had I been on my own I would have turned back to the hotel. As it was, some men came up to us and told us there had been shooting at Leopold's and
View from my window
The Taj on fire - actual distance from my hotel room. to go back to our hotel, although they did seem to think it would be ok to walk in the other direction and find somewhere to eat. I heard them mention AK47s, which seemed a bit excessive for a local gang fight, but Barby missed that bit. Although Barby knew another route down to the sea front and the Taj, we had decided to go back to the hotel when another guy came up and told us to go back to the hotel.
We still weren't really sure what was going on until a porter came to sort out Barby's kettle and put the television on and we realised that where we were staying in Colabra, (a couple of minutes from the Taj hotel), was right in the thick of things. However there was nothing much to do other than try and get some sleep. (I'd been flying for 16 hours with a 4 hour wait at Sydney..)
Just before dropping off I received texts from family asking if I realised how serious the situation was and saying that it appeared that Westerners were being targetted - not exactly conducive to a good night's sleep especially as by now I could hear explosions from the Taj and machine gun fire. I decided I needed to come up with some sort of 'exit strategy' and tried to contact my brother Ian who is in the Foreign Office to see what he knew. For future reference Ian, what I had in mind was a crack SAS team coming to pluck us out of the danger zone but the contact numbers and advice were pretty useful too. It was all rather worrying as noone was sure at that time the extent of what was going on and we just knew that the train station and hospital had been hit as well as several hotels - all of which were near us. In the end though there was nothing else to do but go to sleep - although I did get up and put some clothes back on and pack a small bag of essentials just in case we had to get out quick. (Barby's room was at the back of the hotel and she hadn't heard the explosions and slept quite well!!)
The next morning we had to decide whether to follow Foreign Office advice and stay put in the hotel or go to the domestic airport for our flight to Udaipur. Most flights were still running and the hotel manager could arrange transport so we decided that as long as we could get through to the airport we were probably safer getting out of Mumbai than staying where we were in the thick of it. We could hear traffic moving about the streets and some people were out and about, although all the local shops were closed.
In the meantime Barbara came to join us. She had been on my flight up from Sydney and cadged a lift into Colabra on my shuttle. She'd gone straight to bed, got up early the next day and walked up to the train station to book her ticket to Goa and then went down to see the gateway of India. She thought it was unusually quiet and was very surprised to be interviewed by CNN.
"How does it feel to be a tourist in Mumbai caught up in all the troubles?"
"Err. What troubles..."
We left the hotel and the only way out was past the back of the Taj..... However, we had no problem getting to the airport. There was increased security - all bags scanned on arrival at the airport, no liquids in hand luggage etc but we got away only half an hour late.
It was a relief to arrive in Udaipur which is soooo beautifull - and peaceful. However, we also realised how lucky we had been that my flight was delayed and that there were many others who hadn't been as fortunate as us.
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Douglas Ritchie
non-member comment
Glad to Hear You're Safe
Good to hear that you managed to avoid the worst of what happened in Mumbai, Jill. Can't have been very enjoyable nonetheless. Hope where you are now is a bit quieter and safer. We're currently hitting minus 6 degrees in Scotland just now. I imagine it's a bit warmer where you are?