He is one of Britain’s most prominent South Asian personalities, and warm and easy to talk to. His life began in Bombay, until he left for England in the mid sixties. While you could take Sir Gulam Noon out of Bombay, Bombay has remained close to Sir Noon’s heart, so much so that he has been visiting the city of dreams as it is popularly known, many times annually and the Taj Mahal Hotel has been a home away from home for 28 years.
And so when he decided to take some business colleagues to India to scout a site to build a food factory, the Taj Hotel was where he arrived five days before the Mumbai Massacre.
In an exclusive interview from London, Sir Gulam Noon, recalls how he escaped the terrorist attack, not the first time that he has faced death at such close quarters.
“There are so many coincidences here that I cannot believe that I was able to survive. In fact it is a miracle.
I had one American colleague, one British colleague and another very senior executive from the US. We had gone to Mumbai to feel the pulse of the business as we wanted to put up a food factory. We reached their on Saturday (22nd) and I thought I’ll give them the flavor of each restaurant of Taj. So we went to all the restaurants. On the fourth day, Tuesday (25th), I said lets eat in the suite today. I will ask for typical Muslim food to be prepared and my elder brother who is retired and lives in Bombay will arrange it. So I asked him and remember this thing (attack) happened on Wednesday. Unfortunately the cook he had selected said he can’t do it as he was busy on Tuesday. So I said okay we will eat at the restaurant on Tuesday and you can make the food and bring it on Wednesday. So on Tuesday we went downstairs to the Zodiac restaurant which I believe is the most expensive restaurant in India and serves great continental food. That restaurant was attacked on Wednesday and nobody survived. And on Wednesday my brother bought the food. I had some company executives from Delhi and Bombay and I told them-why don’t you also eat with us, so we were about 7 people in the suite.
At 9 p.m. I had booked a car to take one of my colleagues to the airport and I went down with him, settled him in his car, talked to him for 10-15 minutes. I’m a chatterbox and if anyone was to meet me in the lobby I would have spent another 10 minutes there in the lobby chatting-that is where the terrorists entered from. But I didn’t meet anyone who knew me so I went straight up to my room. As soon as I came up on the 3rd floor and rang the bell of my suite the firing started.
Initially I thought those were fire crackers as there were many weddings going on, but the butler who was assigned to me, said Sir- Get in there-there are 2 people –looks like it’s a gang war. Of course it was not a gang war but a full fledged terrorist attack. I called from the hotel and there was a girl from the Taj who was with me on the phone throughout. I’m amazed at her-she stayed on the phone with me till the morning. She said barricade your door with any furniture you can lay your hands on. So we barricaded both the doors to my bedroom suite as well as my sitting room, so that if they tried to break the door it will be difficult for them. And then from the peep-hole myself and my friend-we saw those two boys, the terrorists walking around. We shut the light, the television was completely cut off for the right reason, so was the ventilation. We were told by the Taj staff to just have one small light in a corner so the glow does not go through the cracks of the door. We couldn’t see anything outside, but my children from London and friends in Bombay said (via phone) there is a fire on the 3rd floor. We were asked to wet towels and place them under the doors-a normal precaution one would take against smoke coming in but you cant stop smoke, air or water-it will find the holes. Around 12-12.30 am, there was such a huge blast that the hotel shook and our window panes cracked, and I said to my friends this is our 9/11. They are trying to bring the building down. In the early part of the morning, we felt that the smoke was inside, as our gullet was uncomfortable. We were soon coughing. All the windows and doors on the seaside were sealed, so we couldn’t open anything. Around 6.-6.30 a.m. when dawn came, and there was light on the street, we saw some fire brigade engines. Earlier we had seen the bombs falling on the street and hitting the ground, and all the glass on our windows shattered. They brought the crane and the cage and that is how we were saved.
The strength came because there were six of us. We were talking softly and giving each other courage. I knew it would be a tough call because the terrorists were in complete charge of the lobby and all the staircases, so there was no escape. The only escape was to throw ourselves out of the windows. The fire brigade was not coming near. I was told by Mr. Krishna Kumar, the VP of Hotels that he had requested the Police to send the fire brigade but the fire brigade did not come. That is how the 6th floor people were burnt alive. What was the reason for not showing up? I don’t know. If they can’t come to extinguish the fire how the hell can they come to save us?
I had written certain things for my wife and children and I took a plastic bag and put the paper there and thought in case I’m killed a least they will find this paper in my pocket. I was so prepared and I did that without letting them know. I had accepted the fait accompli. We’ve seen a lot of Hollywood movies. I thought about the movie-Diehard and you see that when those people come, they are prepared to die for whatever cause they are fighting for. They don’t care if they kill innocent people which they did.
When my feet touched the ground after we were rescued by the fire brigade, I dropped the same paper in the Arabian Sea. It was one of the most horrific moments of my life.
This is the fourth time I’ve escaped death.
The first time, I was very young and extremely fond of motor cycles and a friend of mine and I were going to Bangalore. I was on the pillion seat and the motor cycle went out of control, we were thrown off, the motor cycle went flying and caught fire, but I escaped.
The second time was in 1973-74. I was traveling to Baghdad because that’s where the Prophet’s grandson is buried and I went to pay my respects there. Having paid my respects I flew back. We wanted to go to Kuwait, a friend of mine and I, we were soon on an Iraqi Airways plane-a propeller jet. As soon as we took off I saw oil slick on my window and immediately the pilot also came down and said we have to go back to Baghdad airport. We turned back; the oil was from the front wheel which was scary. As soon as we landed, the aircraft went haywire.
Fortunately, it went into a ploughed field which acted like a brake. The air craft stopped but the Iraqi fire brigade wouldn’t come near because they were expecting an explosion because the aircraft had caught fire and smoke was in the fuselage now. The pilot and I opened the door and pushed the people-they had to go on the wing of the plane and jump. That’s how I survived.
The third time was in the 1993 Mumbai blasts. I was sitting in an upper suite on the 5th floor and the bomb blast took place. The entire bedroom windows shattered and all the glass from the window panes was lying on my bed. Had I been there I would have been badly injured but I was sitting with my son in law Arun and my brother in law in the main room. The blast was so horrific that the big brass hinges of the doors and windows buckled. The whole building shook. The people who were sitting on the parapet were flung to the sea. I ran down to see my driver who had been waiting and he was hurt and taken to the hospital.
And now this was the fourth time that this happened to me.
I came down on Thursday and the next day I went to the office of the Brtitish High Commissioner to get a temporary passport since we left everything in the room and when I went back to the hotel on Friday the firing was still going on, bombs were still exploding and people were watching helplessly. It was not just the hotel that was burning; it was the heritage of India. For me it was as if my own house was burning because I have lived there for 28 years. I go to India 3 times a year. It was a very chaotic situation.
I was there (in London) when 7/7 took place, in my office and the people there are very resilient. I told my staff they could stay at a hotel and my company would pay for it and they said No sir, we will walk and they walked
Here I want to say something about the politicians. In one of the interviews with NDTV. I asked what the hell was Shivraj Patil the Home Minister doing other than changing his jacket every hour? He was the Home Minister and every time something happened, Malegaon, Jaipur, all he would say is “Our sympathies to those who died and we wont tolerate this”. Apart from that what action did he take? Eventually after people like me and others shouted the party took a hard line and removed him. But these are useless people. Our biggest problem is our politicians. There is so much corruption. I don’t think Nigeria is the most corrupt country-in terms of corruption, I think India is a very corrupt country. Some of the politicians should not even be in our Parliament and in our legislature because they are criminals with a criminal record.
My personal opinion is-I want to see India being governed by the young people. These old people don’t want to leave their jobs; they have been using Z security. Whenever even an ordinary minister goes, you see 2 cars in front of his car and 2 behind him. When he is walking, half a dozen commandos are walking with him. Your life is important but is the ordinary citizen’s life not important?
The commandos came so late. I was in a very strategic position from my suite. I could see the main gate of the Taj. The bodies were coming out, the injured were coming out, police and commandos were going in but it was too late. Another question which I have in mind-there were four terrorists in the Taj and one I believe was gunned down within 2 hours-3 terrorists were there and they were there for 61 hours. What was happening? They said the commandos didn’t know their way around, but the Taj staff was there through out-those poor fellows (Taj staff) when I came down, the General Manager, the regional director, the deputy manager of Taj hotels all were there.
There are so many unanswered questions. Karkare’s vest-it was obviously not a good quality vest-so someone made money of that supplying low quality vests. Another thing I have not mentioned until now in the media, but told the police and people at Taj, but I’m telling you now.
At about 11 am, on Wednesday it self, I was in my suite and I saw a helicopter was flying very low. So low that I could see the two people there and it came very close to the Taj. It was unmarked. It didn’t say whether it belonged to the army or navy. I was looking for a marker and couldn’t see it. I had no idea that this attack was going to happen the same night.
I did not see any tremendous security at the Taj. I only saw the ordinary security that I see all the time-two fellows on either side of the main door and of course they have metal detectors but now I think the time has come when every baggage needs to be screened.
There is no point blaming this or that country. Terrorists have no religion. I’m not favoring Pakistan but Pakistan is going through their own troubles with terrorism; their Marriot hotel was brought down. Pakistani citizens and Indian citizens have an incredible relationship. I’ve been to Pakistan 3-4 times and they respect you so much and same thing happens when they come to India. It’s the political system that has to be cleaned up.
Bombay has changed so much. I was born in Bombay. When I left one could play cricket on the streets on a Sunday-now you cannot even walk on the street. When I left the population was only 8 million, now I believe its about 14 million and still counting. The entire infrastructure has come under pressure although when I left there was hardly 2 flyovers and now I believe there are almost about 55 flyovers. There has been tremendous development, but the problem is that the population is so great the water supply, the electricity supply, everything is under pressure. People living on the streets and slums were hardly there when I left.
Bombay is still a fantastic city. I love to go back there, and as a Bombayite, I will tell you that those who have lived in Bombay cannot live anywhere else. Bombay is extremely safe even today.
The attack wasn’t conducted by Bombayites, It came from outside. It came from sea and Bombayites have no answers. I’m baffled how could 10 people cross the shore and come to Taj or Oberoi or the railway station. Where was our intelligence, where was our Navy, our coastal guards, our police?
They could just walk in. I do give the benefit of the doubt to Taj security because in this instance I believe they just entered through the main gate and opened fire. The security had no chance to ask them any question or detain them.
Since the attack I wake up between 4 and 5 a.m. every day like clockwork-the exact time that the huge blast that shook the building took place.
But life has to go on and I’m going back to Bombay in January. My Chief Executive came to me and said-Noon nothing has changed-we are going back to establish something there and that was it. No one is going to shun India but our politicians need to wake up.”
Kavita’s audio podcast of this interview:
Many thanks to Rajan Jetley for facilitating this interview.