A shawl saved her life

A documentary that airs on TV today revisits 26/11 by focussing on guests stuck at two 5-stars. How a Pashmina shawl saved a Turkish woman's life, and why a terrorist couldn't operate an auto-touch tap, and more...

When a black Pashmina shawl decides whether you'll live to see another day, it only makes the fragility of human life apparent. Turkish guest Meltem Muezzinoglu and her husband Seyfi were prized hostages at Taj Mahal Hotel during last November's terror strikes, until Meltem made a quick choice. The Pashmina she had wrapped like a stole around her neck turned into a stole that covered her head and shoulders, the way Muslim women drape it.

Hostages Meltem Muezzinoglu and her husband Seyfi survived the unrelenting 26/11 terror attack at the Taj Mahal Hotel

The inside stories of survivorsu00a0-- of gumption, surprise, fear and reliefu00a0-- come alive in Surviving Mumbaiu00a0-- a narrative interlaced with a CCTV footage, actual transcripts of phone conversations between the gunmen and their handlers, and staged recreation of November 26 terror attacks in Mumbai.

The grip of the organised multiple ambush focussed on Victoria Terminus station, Nariman House, Trident-Oberoi and the Taj Mahal Hotel for over 48 hours, but the documentary throws spotlight on the two 5-stars and its main protagonists. Like Indian-American Anjali Pollack who was stuck at the Taj Mahal Hotel, and couldn't believe "this was happening to me. My life isn't that exciting".

Or, Drew Dickson, 19th floor resident at the Oberoi Hotel, who chose to see humour in the face of death. "It was quite eerie because we were looking into a block of apartments and I'll never forget watching a guy cleaning his teeth in his bathroom, while the hotel opposite was being bombed and burned. And he was carrying on like nothing was happening," he recalls.

For an Indian viewing this documentary, the account of foreigners may not, perhaps, hold as much ground. For them, there's the story of Amit Peshave, a restaurant manager who has been with the Taj since he was just 17. A visibly shaken Amit admits he had his chance to escape. "Let me be honest, for a fraction of second, I did think of running. But I chose to go back. I couldn't leave my guests," he says. The last person to walk free from the Taj was a hotel waiter.

Directed by Victoria Midwinter Pitt and produced by Andrew Ogilvie and Andrea Quesnelle, Surviving Mumbai premieres on Discovery Channel, today at 8 pm with a repeat at 10 pm