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Service with sacrifice |
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By: Hemal Ashar |
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Date:
2008-12-21 |
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Place: Mumbai |
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 Taj, Trident re-open today after terror attacks
Both the Taj Mahal hotel and the Trident hotel open today in what Taj memorably terms as an 'act of defiance' in the wake of the Mumbai terror attacks on November 26.
Letters of blood
The hotel industry came together recently at the Dadar Catering College to launch Hotels Opposing Senseless Terrorism (HOST). Dominic Costabir, director, Hospitality Training Institute (HTI) and Manish Pandya, director, Trance Films, said that it is a scholarship fund for children of para- military forces, defense, security and emergency personnel. The college will monitor the fund.
Goats and guns
Vithal Kamat of the Kamat's hotel chain began on a rousing note saying, "The industry will fight back," adding that hotels are being targeted because, "hospitality is the engine for economic growth."
Celebrity chef Sanjeev Kapoor said, "More than two decades ago, at my first job in an 80-room hotel in Varanasi, a gentleman brought a freshly-killed goat to us in the kitchen and asked us to cook it. When we refused, he took out his revolver. We overpowered him in the kitchen."
Shot in the stomach
Bhisham Mansukhani, talked of professionalism in the face of death. He said, "We dashed down a service corridor at around 4 am trying to escape. A staff personnel of the Taj, Rajan, was shot in the stomach. As he bled, he refused to scream because then the terrorists would have known where we were."
Guilty at escaping
Meher D, principal of the Hospitality Administration and Food Technology (HAFT) at Sophia College, who lost a student in the attack, was emotional. She said, "A bullet killed one of my students. Another hid for nine hours under a sink as he survived the attacks. Both feel guilty at escaping alive."
Global pride
The industry's suits and saris, the chef's white coat and hat stood equal to military fatigues. As Sudhir Andrews, who has authored numerous books on the industry, saluted the hotel staff saying, "You have done the hospitality industry proud."
Trident Triumph
The Trident-Oberoi opens to a press conference announcing the Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon to be held on January 18, 2008. When marathoners break the tape at the end of the 42 km distance, which begins and ends opposite the CST, they will symbolise the will to defy odds.
Wah, Taj boliye
The Taj, on Monday, will be a venue for a press conference for a joint venture between an Indian and the irony of it all, an Israeli security company. In the background of the Jews killed at the Nariman House, this gives resonance to the hotel's catch line: We will remain defiant. |
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