REASON FOR BEING ON THERE: Dinner with his boss Andreas Liveras andfriends
WORKS AS: Cruise director of Liveras Yachts
NOW AT: JJ hospital
'We were crouching under our dining tables when two terrorists entered the room and began shooting randomly with their AK-47s. My boss, Andreas Liveras, died after he took a bullet to his temple. (Liveras was quoted in The New Paper yesterday.) I was hit on my right shoulder. Some people urinated out of fear.
'After the terrorists left, Liveras's friend Ravishankar bandaged my shoulder with a strip from a tablecloth. Twelvehours passed before Black Cat commandos rescued us at 8 pm.
'The hotel was littered with cartridge shells and the ceiling was riddled with bullet marks. At JJ Hospital, I learned that the bullet had narrowly missed my lungs.'
SANJAY KATHAR, 23
INJURY: Grenade attack. Injured his back, stomach
INJURED AT: Colaba market
WORKS AS: Team leader with Zenith call centre
REASON FOR BEING THERE: Curiosity
NOW AT: JJ Hospital
'I was at work when my friend told me that the cracker-like sounds we were hearing were gunshots being fired randomly by two men. When I came down to see what was happening, I saw a masked man, who was carrying a bag, lob a grenade in my direction.
'I fell down bleeding. I phoned my friend Kailash. Unfortunately, given the condition, he could only meet me at StGeorge Hospital, where I was admitted. I was later moved to JJ Hospital.'
ANAMIKA GUPTA, 28
INJURY: Four bullets in lower abdomen, left thigh
INJURED AT: Colaba market
WORKS AS: Beautician
REASON FOR BEING THERE: Shopping with friends
NOW AT: JJ Hospital
'We began running when we heard the gunshots. I fell down after I got shot, and saw that my friends had sustained injuries as well. I couldn't call anyone for help as I discovered that I had lost my mobile phone and bag.
'As I lost consciousness, the fear that I would die on the street gripped me. I opened my eyes at the hospital, the next day. My friend Anamika's parents only learned at 8am that she was hurt in the terror attack.'
The bereaved
VIJAY SHARMA
Mumbai resident
Dead: Son Nitesh
'I lost my 15-year-old son Nitesh to the cross firing between police forces and terrorists on Wednesday night at the train station. My son and I were returning home after dropping my wife in a Mathura-bound train.
'We were on Platform No 1 when the terrorists attacked the station. We first heard some noises, which I mistook for firecrackers.
'Then the police shouted out for us to run and we realised it was a terror attack. My son fell down and I thought somebody had pushed him.
'But when I pulled him up, he sagged in my arms. He was bleeding from the front. A bullet had hit him from the back and gone through the left side of his stomach. He was taken to Bombay Hospital, but he died within 10-15 minutes of getting there.
'This is the second tragedy to hit our family. My elder son Vikram was kidnapped in 1987 when he was five and was never found. Our two daughters are all we have now.
The hero
V D ZENDE
Job: Train announcer.
He saved hundreds of lives
'I heard a loud sound. First, I thought there was a blast at the train station. But soon I heard the firing.
'I could see that the entire scenario of the station had changed. I even saw the terrorists who fired at our office. One bullet hit our cabin, but luckily, it missed us all.'
'I immediately announced that due to some problem at the exit near the long-distance trains, commuters should take the platform no.1 exits quickly. To my surprise, I saw the platform empty in minutes (This ensured that the commuters were out of the terrorists' way).
'I don't know about how many lives were saved, but even if one person's life was saved because of me, then I'm very happy.'
AT A GLANCE
WHAT: Terror attack on Mumbai
WHERE: Taj Mahal and Oberoi hotels, outside Cafe Leopold, and Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus railway station
