Mumbai has been attacked
Trip Start
Jul 07, 2008
1
58
226
Trip End
May 27, 2010
Mumbai (Bombay),
Maharashtra,
India
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Bentleys Hotel, Colaba, Mumbai
Hot and humid
Last night several places in Bombay were attacked. I use the old name because I've yet to hear an Indian national refer to it by the new name, Mumbai. We touched down in Bombay at 4pm and by the time we had organised the pre-paid taxi (that's a story in itself but I'm afraid it pales into insignificance when you think about what happened last night) and got through the rush hour traffic we checked into Bentleys at around 6.30. We weren't hungry but we were thirsty and needed to get some money, so we showered and hit Colaba.
At 7.30 we stopped at a little drinks stall, Dave had a milkshake and I had a lime soda. I know it was 7.30 because we set the new time on the mobile phone. Then we went for a walk, bought a couple of Coca Colas (to go with our duty free rum) and retired to our hotel about 8.30. Our room has a closed in balcony that overlooks Colaba Causeway (we are on the first floor), the main street running through the district. It's a really nice place to sit, open up the screens and watch and listen to the world go by below. By 8.30 we were absolutely shattered having been awake for more hours than I care to work out. I left Dave on the balcony listening to the radio and went to bed.
As I sit typing up my blog I'm looking out of our 'balcony window' up The Causeway towards the main roundabout that would take us to Mumbai proper. The Taj is approximately 200 mtrs, as the crow flies, from our hotel. The Causeway runs adjacent to the road on which The Taj stands, so from where I sit, I would walk up The Causeway and take the 2nd right.
At 1150 this morning we finally awoke to the news that Bombay had been hit by terrorists. I asked the hotel manager if it was a holiday because all the shops were shut and it seemed very quiet. He seemed absolutely incredulous that we didn't know. We had slept through the whole thing, although how I have no idea because we didn't even have ear plugs in! One would assume that AK47s make quite a loud noise and that's what was used at Leopolds, literally 3 mins down the street. The Taj was either bombed or grenaded, but we didn't hear that either.
At the same time I received a cryptic text from my brother, presumably the news had started filtering through. Then we found out the awful extent of the situation. Two hundred people killed, three hundred people injured. The targets were The Taj Hotel (the best in Mumbai) Leopolds restaurant (a very popular place with backpackers and middle class Indians which we walked past last night on our way back to the hotel with me saying to Dave 'we must go there') VT railway station, the central market and the Oberoi Hotel. The news so far (and there's not a lot of it coming through in India, it's just hearsay from people in the hotel) is that people walked into several of these places and opened fire with AK47s, the train station, they think, was attacked with hand grenades.
We have begun a text conversation with our good friend Paul McIntyre who has told us it was Muslim terrorists and that hostages have been taken. He has texted us some radio frequency information (we have a SW radio) and the latest info at 1351 hrs Bombay time is that a hospital, a Jewish Centre and offices have been targeted and that hostages are still being held.
I've detected an open wifi connection but with a crap signal so we'll venture out a bit later (curfew allowing) to see if we can get online.
It's all a bit unreal to be perfectly honest. On a strictly selfish note we really do need to get something to eat because we haven't eaten for over 24 hours. As I sit in our covered balcony, looking out onto Colaba Causeway, I can see people wandering around and there is some traffic on the road. Not much of a curfew! A young Indian guy I spoke with earlier (the one who told me out the 15 military vehicles and people with machine guns) said that there were a few people around, several gawping at the places where the attacks happened, but not much is going on.
1920 hrs
Our stomachs forced us to venture out this afternoon, round about 3.30. There were lots of people on the streets but very few vehicles. Whichever way we walk from the hotel we hit roadblocks. The Taj is about 5 minutes walk from us, the market about 3 mins in one direction and Leopolds the same distance in the other. Luckily, we found a couple of restaurants so at least we managed to eat.
Then we did what everyone else was doing - wandered around. We were able to get within sight of The Taj and could see there was a gaping hole in the famous red domed roof, with what looked like black smoke around it. The news here is that the attackers landed by boat, at the Gateway of India, which is dead opposite The Taj and where we will be catching a ferry to Mandwa IF the ferries are running, on Saturday. It must be almost unheard of to have streets in Bombay that aren't heaving with traffic, but that's exactly what it's been like here all day. There are more vehicles around now that evening is here, and we've even seen a few buses.
We are so used to 24/7 news coverage it's hard to imagine something like this happening and not hearing about it ALL THE TIME on the news and radio, but that's the situation we find ourselves in. We have the SW but there doesn't seem to be much on that. We know there are several foreigners and police officers amongst the dead, also 2 top US agents (just caught the end of that report so a little unclear about that one).
The hotel staff seem very nonchalant about the whole affair 'today a problem, tomorrow no problem', we'll have to wait and see about that.
2100 hrs
Went out to stretch our legs as we are both feeling a bit stir crazy. Luckily, we are in a half decent hotel with a reasonably sized room (with table and chairs - not having to lounge around on beds all day is good), a fan and of course the shutters on the 'balcony' open creating a bit of a breeze.
Apart from the odd telephone kiosk, tobacco and pan stall, there is nothing open. Even the restaurant we went to this afternoon is closed now so I'm feeling justified in having a great big thali (90 rps - £1.20 and it was a really good one) cos that might have to last us a long time.
As we were walking around I had a glimpse of what it must be like to be in a situation where you are desperate for essentials and not able to get them. For example when the floods hit New Orleans we saw footage of people looting shops and most of them were after food and water. I can still only imagine though because actually it's all very calm here, eerily calm and quiet I would say, We know the terrorists were targeting US and UK citizens and as yet we haven't witnessed any adverse reactions to tourists generally or ourselves in particular.
The siege at The Taj clearly continues, they have flood lights on the hotel with everything surrounding it in darkness. All I can say is that I'm relieved we decided not to spend the £250 a night to stay at The Taj, cos that really would have been a bummer! That bad taste joke has probably alienated half the people who read this blog, apologies for maintaining a sense of humour!
Laters (fingers crossed)
