November 30, 2008 14:33 PM

The Curse Of Taj Mahal Hotel's Sixth Floor

By P. Vijian

MUMBAI, Nov 30 (Bernama) -- It was a painful death for Malaysian Hema Kassipillai, whose decomposed body was found on the sixth floor of the 565-room Taj Mahal Palace Hotel -- a gracious landmark of the city built in 1903.

The sixth floor bore the brunt of the violent terrorist attacks that burned down the entire floor in the 60-hour horrendous ordeal that started on Wednesday in India's financial capital.

Like all other rooms, Hema's room, number 637, was completely charred during the ensuing battle between unknown number of terrorists holed-up inside the hotel and dozens of Indian security forces.

Terrorists, allegedly arrived via sea route with their armaments, made two of the hotel's sixth floor rooms, facing the Colaba seafront, as their headquarters and later terrorised the occupants until Saturday morning.

The Times of India gave a descriptive write-up of the ill-fated hotel build by the industrialised Jamsetji N. Tata.

The occupants on the sixth floor also include the paper's Consulting Editor Sabina Sehgal Saikial, who was also killed in the attacks.

The hotel's general manager Karambir Kang's wife and his two sons also perished in the fire that gutted the sixth floor.

Another luckless guest on the sixth floor was Greek tycoon Andreas Liveras, who was slain by terrorist bullets.

But former Indian city model Gurpreet Gill, who currently lives in Singapore, escaped and was reported to have stumbled upon two suspected terrorists, whose room was next to hers.

The terrorists, equipped with blackberrys to monitor news and satellite phones, destroyed all the rooms facing the Arabian sea, including the presidential rooms, valuable paintings, furniture and hand-oven silk carpets, said the paper.

According to Indian Home Ministry, a total of 183 people were killed, including 22 foreigners.

The hotel is an architecture marvel which combines Florentine, Moorish and Oriental designs, making it a magnificent landmark of Mumbai.

But now it stands with a badly-wounded image.

-- BERNAMA

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