Moved on, but scars stay for life
MUMBAI: Although it has been nine years since the terror attacks, survivors still remember the day vividly.
“I remember every second of that day,” says Devika Rotawan, then 10, who was shot in the leg at Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST). During the trial, Devika, the youngest survivor of the attacks, identified arrested gunman Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab as one of the two who fired indiscriminately at passengers.
The teenager, who is now studying, has a message: “Nobody should sit at home because they are scared of terrorists. They should fight terrorists.”
Dilip Mehta had come to Taj hotel for a conference that day. “Around 9pm, there were reports of a gangwar and we were stopped from leaving the hotel. Within 10 minutes, we were told it was a terror attack. We were told not to go near the windows. We heard explosions and started to pray,” says Mehta.
Stuck on the 21st floor of the hotel for hours, he was the first one to be rescued. “It was not easy. I had to undergo counselling for six months,” says Mehta, who represented India at the International Congress on Victims of Terrorism in Paris in 2015. Mehta, however, is happy with the security measures in place. “The city is relatively safe now. The government has taken a lot of steps and no one will dare attack us again,” he said.
Unlike Mehta, Dr PN Vaswani, who was at Taj hotel on the day of the attacks, says we need more security at vital installations such as Siddhivinayak. “I remember the attack sometimes, but my work keeps me busy,” he says.