Friday 28 November 2008

Interviews , posts and excerpts about the Mumbai terror attacks

It's close to 48 hours since the terror attacks struck Mumbai and the war between the commandos and the terrorists is still on at the Taj and Nariman point . Evacuvations have been in progress and there are interviews from those of them who had been at the point of attacks in the papers and internet.

Here are a few interviews from the people who had to undergo the ordeals of the mumbai terror attacks but are now back safe , few excerpts from the internet and the papers which I would like to share it with you all.

Message from Ratan Tata , Chairman Tata Sons .
The terrible wanton attacks last night [26 November 2008] on innocent people and the destruction of prominent landmarks in India deserve to be universally condemned. My sympathies and condolences go out to all those who have suffered, been injured, and those who have lost their loved ones in this terrible act of hatred and destruction.We cannot replace the lives that have been lost and we will never forget the terrifying events of last night, but we must stand together, shoulder to shoulder as citizens of India, and rebuild what has been destroyed. We must show that we cannot be disabled or destroyed, but that such heinous acts will only make us stronger. It is important that we do not allow divisive forces to weaken us. We need to overcome these forces as one strong unified nation.

Vice-chairman of Tata Group’s Indian Hotels, RK Krishna Kumar firmly commits to rebuilding the Taj and salutes the spirit of his employees.
Click here to read his message to the media.

With this kind of determination and the amount of compassion the staff of Taj has shown towards their custoner I'm sure the brand will go a long way.

This excerpt is from Rashmi Bhansal's comment section on her blog where Prof. Eric has shared his experience.

Well, Dear Friends - I made it, although it was a bit exciting at times.Thank you SO much for being so concerned!I am sure I will embroider and lengthen the story over time (and try to convinceyou to listen) - but the VERY short form is that I am now safe in Amedabad.

The slightly longer tale is that quite a few explosions and gunshots andconfusion started about 10:30PM last night and woke me up in my Mumbai hotelroom. Smoke started coming in under the door and my room fire alarm went off.The hotel room windows were the sealed-shut type and I began to hear people inother rooms trying to smash the glass with heavy blows. By the crashes, Icould also hear that some succeeded - I guess by using furniture.All of this began to suggest to me that something was slightly amiss :) But Ihad no idea that people were taking hostages in the lobby restaurants and soon. No news came from the hotel staff, who probably had their hands fullbecause they were in the lobby where the gunmen entered.I opened my room door and found that outside the room the smoke was REALLY thickand maybe the lighting was off too - in any case, you could not see your hand infront of you. Probably the smoke spread everywhere so completely because thelobby level, where the explosions were going on, was the base of an open atriumextending up 20 stories.

So I closed the door again and thought things over. I was on the 16th floor.The air outside my room felt hot but not very hot. Still, I didn't knowwhether there was a fire below me - not a good thing - or what floor it mightbe on. But I decided I would try to get out of there rather than smash windowsand try to stay. I found my passport and a couple of other things, got a wettowel over my nose and mouth and left the room. The towel worked really well,and things were pretty straight-forward after that. I felt along the wall to afire stair exit - the exit sign was lit - opened the door and started down. Thesmoke was very thick there too, but I could move along pretty quickly because,amazingly, there seemed to be no one else in the stairwell.

Got outside and saw groups of police standing around and not doing much despiteall the yelling and window-smashing going on. I could hear occasionalexplosions from inside our hotel lobby and also from other nearby sites. Withall that going on, they probably did not know what to do. I decided to getaway from the hotel and try to get to the airport, but the police had otherideas - they wanted us to stay in a protected area away from the shooting.

After a bit I met a reporter in the crowd, who took my photo, interviewed me,and asked about what I wanted to do. I told her I wanted to try to get to theairport, and she said no problem: as a reporter she could get us through thepolice line. I followed her - and, as she predicted, no one stopped us as wepassed through the police. After a half-mile or so of walking, we found a cab, and we started for the airport. We went though 3 roadblocks successfully and that was that! I arrived at theairport, emailed to Jessie that I was safe, and all's well that ends well.

You can read similar interviews here and here.

Hoping there are no more losses of life and the attacks end at the earliest.

Need a lil help with twittering

I have been twittering for quite a few months but haven't been a regular with it, but after reading Anoop's post on twitter addiction I jus' thought of logging into my page and checking it out. You can see my twitter updates in the left column of my blog. But, I want to get this tile kind of back ground like how most of you have put up in your blog space. Can someoone help??
TIA

Chennaiyil oru mazhai kalam / Torrential rainfall hits Chennai

Its been raining on and off (but heavily) for the last 3 to 4 days in Chennai. I also went around clicking pics to post it up here but unfortunately I'm not able to find my data cable to transfer the pics *sigh*.

Chennai is floating *literally* , in some parts of Chennai the stagnated water reaches the windows of the car leaving the situation very uncomfortable for commuters. Even most companies have declared holiday today...

In such a lovely weather ( I'm more of a summer person thou' I like the chill weather) I jus' can't get myself to go and study for my forthcoming exams . I'm sure most of you would agree as to how hard it is ;) . Two exams have been postponed and we are in a skeptical position unknowing as to when these exams will be held .. Neverthless, now its the time to relax and enjoy the weather.. So, what have I been doing the last few days

  • Rolling in the bed
  • On the phone all day long
  • flipping through news channels to get updates of the terror attacks in Mumbai
  • Listening to music
  • reading a book
  • all this along with being online :)

I jus' hope it was holidays so that I continue doing all the above without the sense of guiltiness :D

So, what have you Chennaietes been upto?? And for the others what would you love to do on a rainy holiday? :)

Thursday 27 November 2008

Terror attacks in Mumbai

Two luxury hotels (Taj and Oberoi) were targetted along with 8 other locations by the terrorists later last evening. It was a schoking news to wake up to this morning more so with Taj being my all time favourite. It is truly disheartening to see the updates in the TV. Two of my exams have been postponed due to heavy showers in Chennai so have been switching channels to catch up with the updates. I jus' hope and pray the remaining hostages be saved and pray to god that they and their family be given the strength to overcome this situation .

Monday 24 November 2008

Monday morning Inspiration # 51

"There once was a king who offered a prize to the artist who would paint the best picture of peace. Many artists tried. The king looked at all the pictures. But there were only two he really liked, and he had to choose between them.One picture was of a calm lake. The lake was a perfect mirror for peaceful towering mountains all around it. Overhead was a blue sky with fluffy white clouds. All who saw this picture thought that it was a perfect picture of peace.

The other picture had mountains, too. But these were rugged and bare. Above was an angry sky, from which rain fell and in which lightning played. Down the side of the mountain tumbled a foaming waterfall. This did not look peaceful at all.But when the king looked closely, he saw behind the waterfall a tiny bush growing in a crack in the rock.

In the bush a mother bird had built her nest. There, in the midst of the rush of angry water, sat the mother bird on her nest - in perfect peace.Which picture do you think won the prize? The king chose the second picture. Do you know why?"Because," explained the king, "peace does not mean to be in a place where there is no noise, trouble, or hard work. Peace means to be in the midst of all those things and still be calm in your heart. That is the real meaning of peace."
To read other Monday morning Inspirations click here.

Friday 21 November 2008

My math marvel :)

I jus' gave my last math paper(Operation Research) for the entire engineering course today and believe me this is my best performance in maths after my 2nd grade.. I'm jus' more than happy to say the least. One exam down and 5 more to go. Do i even sound like that?? I know I don' Im jus so excited that I did my maths paper well , more so coz I'm an anti math person .. Jus' planning to enjoy the day and catch up with the second part of princess diaries . I'm jus' hoping I do the other papers well too. You all have agreat weekend. Have fun! :)

Saturday 15 November 2008

Heritage hotels in jaipur

I might spend a week of my vacation sometime around January next year in Jaipur. I have been looking around for some good mid- priced heritage hotels in Jaipur. I did check out hotels from a few travel sites and googled about it as well but not able to decide on which to choose. Before deciding on the one I jus' thought it would be nice to hear from those of you who ve been to jaipur about some good mid-priced places to stay.

I would also like to hear about some must to do/see places in and around Jaipur. Thanks in Advance :)

Monday 10 November 2008

Monday morning Inspiration # 50


A young man was getting ready to graduate from college. For many months he had admired a beautiful sports car in a dealer's showroom, and knowing his father could well afford it, he told him that was all he wanted.

As Graduation Day approached, the young man awaited signs that his father had purchased the car. Finally, on the morning of his graduation, his father called him into his private study. His father told him how proud he was to have such a fine son, and told him how much he loved him. He handed his son a beautiful wrapped gift box. Curious, but somewhat disappointed, the young man opened the box and found a lovely, leather-bound Bible, with the young man's name embossed in gold. Angrily, he raised his voice to his father and said, "With all your money you give me a Bible?" He then stormed out of the house, leaving the Bible.

Many years passed and the young man was very successful in business. He had a beautiful home and a wonderful family, but realizing his father was very old, he thought perhaps he should go to see him. He had not seen him since that graduation day. Before he could make the arrangements, he received a telegram telling him his father had passed away, and willed all of his possessions to his son. He needed to come home immediately and take care of things.

When he arrived at his father's house, sudden sadness and regret filled his heart. He began to search through his father's important papers and saw the still new Bible, just as he had left it years ago. With tears, he opened the Bible and began to turn the pages. As he was reading, a car key dropped from the back of the Bible. It had a tag with the dealer's name, the same dealer who had the sports car he had desired. On the tag was the date of his graduation, and the words….."PAID IN FULL".
How many times do we miss blessings because they are not packaged as we expected? Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; but remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for.

To read other Monday Morning Inspirations click here

Saturday 8 November 2008

Coming up next: Go Goa !

The Singapore Series which I started in my travel blog , Shalini's travelogue will end in a week's time(I have been regularly updating it for the last couple of days). Up next is my experiences in Goa .I visited Goa as a part of my college tour with friends. We stayed at Goa for 3-days and it was so much fun. It's already 2 weeks from teh time I returned and I'm still in the Goa hangover, that's the amount of fun we had..

Watch this space to read about my experiences in Goa.

Friday 7 November 2008

Mu ' barak' Obama


Congratulations to the 44th president of The United States Of America.

Wednesday 5 November 2008

I'm busy dating books

It's that time of the year again when most college students dust off those bulky books, lock themselves up in their rooms dating books and come out jus' to have their meal and go for exams.. My exams have started today and with it comes serious studying. I jus' got done with my practical exams *keeping my fingers crossed that I should score well*.

Have my model exams going on now, this will be followed with our semester exams.. So its gonna be a month full of exam marathon. Nevermind, I will still be able to post in my blog and drop by all your blog spaces as well as I'm done with the tedious tasks of getting the records ready.
This was what kept me away from all of you for the last couple of weeks.. Sorry about not being able to post on my MMI you can look forward to a very interesting MMI this coming Monday.
You all have a great week ahead. Catch you all at your blog space :)