In an exclusive interaction with mid-day, Rochelle Rao recounts her stay in the UAE with husband Keith Sequeira and daughter Josephine amid the ongoing Iran-Israel war
Rochelle Rao with husband Keith Sequeira and daughter Josephine, (L) inside evacuation flight, (R) hours before first missiles hit
Rochelle Rao, former Miss India and TV presenter, who was on a vacation in Dubai with actor-husband Keith Sequeira and two-and-a-half-year-old daughter Josephine, landed in Mumbai on March 4 in an evacuation flight. In an exclusive interaction with mid-day, Rochelle recounts her stay in the UAE amid the ongoing Iran-Israel war.
Vacation amid missiles
Rochelle feels lucky to have entered Dubai a day before chaos ensued. She had booked her stay for a week in Al Barsha. On the first day of their holiday, Rochelle stepped out to walk down the Marina and saw a missile being detonated overhead. She recalls, “We were confused because we didn’t know whether it was really it since we had just heard about the conflict. We could hear loud booms and see clouds of smoke and shrapnel from the missiles falling. It was very nerve-wracking and scary.”
That being said, once Ali Khamenei, the cleric and former supreme leader of Iran, was assassinated, Rochelle states that she received an SOS message on her phone, which started beeping loudly. The alert suggested moving away from windows, following which they heard a few missiles go off.
Calm within the chaos
Rochelle asserts that their stay was comfortable. “There was more panic for Indians outside of Dubai listening to the news than for those of us who were within the country.” She also mentions that messages were coming from the UAE government, such as not posting any misinformation on social media. “Even though it was a highly stressful situation, things were kept calm. There wasn’t immediate police showing up or any of that,” she adds.
Relief in Indian airspace
Rochelle hopped on an evacuation flight to Mumbai with her husband and daughter on March 4. While she doesn’t want to reveal details about the flight or carrier for security reasons, she states it was the only flight preparing to take off from Dubai at that point. “The airport was practically shut, and it was just us. I was amazed at how the staff were functioning like any other day, even if it was just for one flight. It wasn’t like a refugee situation. However, there were some technical issues with our plane. We actually sat on the runway for about 4-5 hours before it could take off. The minute the pilot said, ‘We’re in the Indian airspace,’ we all started clapping,” she shares.
Rochelle emphasises that despite an ongoing war, it was heartwarming to see that she was surrounded by people from different countries, who simply wanted peace. “I'm sorry, I might be politically incorrect, but there were Pakistanis and Bangladeshis with us, and no one felt like an enemy there,” she signs off.
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