Taj staff showed true hospitality in teeth of terror

MUMBAI: The troops of the National Security Guard have emerged heroes of the hostage crisis that unfolded over the past three days. But almost equally deserving of credit are the staff members of Taj, who evacuated a number of trapped guests.

The guests we spoke to were overwhelmed by the presence of mind and valour displayed by the staff.
Wine and food critic Bhisham Mansukhani was at a friend���s wedding in the Crystal Room when the first gun shots rang out on the night of Wednesday 26.

The staff, he said, calmly closed the doors and led them into a service corridor. When the gun fire grew a little distant, they were moved to Chambers (the exclusive corporate club) in the newer wing. ���They brought water and snacks for every one,������Mansukhani recalled.

He said he felt guilty about arguing with a member of the staff who couldn���t get him a mobile phone charger at midnight. The Taj employees, he said, guarded locked doors, putting themselves in the line of fire. They didn���t panic when one of their crew was shot in the abdomen and paranoid guests planned to shatter windows and make a run for it.

���The only way to explain (their grit) is that they believed they were expendable and we weren���t ,������ he said.
Superna Modi, who was at the Golden Dragon, Taj���s Chinese restaurant, is equally effusive. The staff members kept up a soothing stream of conversation, she said. She was led through Wasabi, the Japanese restaurant, and the Harbour Bar to Chambers via the service passage.

From there they were let out of the rear exit from where they ran to Regal. ���When we reached Regal, they were there with bottles of water ,������ Modi said. Alok Vajpeyi, chairman of Dawna Day AV Financial Services, was part of the same evacuation procedure.

He said that when he reached Chambers, one of the scores of guests that had congregated there from various parts of the Taj switched on a TV to watch the news.It was soon turned off by a staff member , he recalled. ���It was a great decision,������ he said. ���There would have been panic.������

For the staff of the Taj, rescuing guests while endangering their own lives didn���t seem beyond the call of duty. Aslam Patel, who has spent 25 years as a steward , can���t wait to return to work even after the horrific experience. He was serving at a wedding anniversary party when the terrorists attacked.

After sealing the doors of the room, Patel and his colleagues led the guests into the lobby and out of the hotel. Patel was rescued from the basement at 4.30am on Thursday. A number of his colleagues, however, were killed in the course of the attack.