Samar and Uday. The younger one, having cut his teeth at the President, now an artless connoisseur of the finer things the Taj had to offer. Room service on call. Thai Pavillion, Trattoria, Konkan Café, Wasabi, Souk, Golden Dragon, Shamiana, Tanjore, Sugar n Spice.......They would've had a hard time with him once they moved out. Fourteen and five. The Kang boys. The three of them. Nitti hugging her sons to her heart. Their room next to the main Heritage suite where the fire started, the main venue for the offensive by the terrorists. Collateral damage.
The Kangs. Binny, Nitti, Samar, Uday. A lifetime together. Raised voices, running feet, broken furniture, blood, frying onions, recalcitrant maids, broken fan belt, school uniforms, shrieks of mirth, slammed doors, hurtful indifference, annoying relatives......... Your family. My family. Binny Kang. Back at the Taj supervising the clean up. A zombie in control. Doing what has to be done.
She knew her babies were going to die. The searing heat, inching closer like the obnoxious scent of the Mahim creek as you drive past. The sound of timber crackling like paper under the onslaught of the unrestrained flames. The stench of melting fabric. Binny watching from across the street, pleading for a fire tender to get his family out through the window. I hope she smothered them before they had to watch the smoke curl under the bathroom door. Smoke inhalation. Every mothers dream end for her bacchas. Oh Nitti. I can't even begin to imagine... I know you never did either.
'This is what Sameer told me..........Their story must be told, I think' from Aashish on Friday morning. "Binny is with his parents, his sister and Lamba and they are staying in the Taj Wellington Mews . Unfortunately, Binny's wife and kids' bodies had not been recovered till this morning as the skirmish is still on. However, someone from the hotel security entered the room's bathroom yesterday, and found the bodies of his wife hugging her two sons.............charred ....Their room was next to the main Heritage Suite where the fire started...."
This is for you, Samar, Uday and Binny.
For the innocent. For those left behind to mourn. For Bombay.
Aye, dil, hai mushkil, jeena yahan
Zara haat ke, zara bach ke, yeh hai Bombai meri jaan
Aye dil hain asaan jeena yahan
Suno mister, suno bandhu, yeh hai Bombay meri jaan
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