Salute to Sabnam

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This imaginary short story is dedicated to Staff of Taj hotel, who had stayed back in the horrendous night of 26/11 and helped their guests, with sheer bravery and dedication. We salute them.

1. At 8.00 PM, Sabnam has ended her duty as house-keeping personnel. Today was the hard day for her. One weird guest had bothered her so much that she decided to leave the job. She got prepared for another suffering.. journey to home!! . She was staying at Vasai and commuting 2 hours in Mumbai local train was another pain, she has to endure.
2. While signing her exit register, she heard noisy fireworks, from Taj Restaurant. She turned back and saw people running from the restaurant. Amazed as she was, she headed towards the Restaurant.
3. At Restaurant, she saw pool of blood , shot human dead bodies, scattered around. She has never seen such horror.. For a moment, she got numb.. and suddenly a scream  “ Run.. Terrorist attack.. Run…”… 
4. She ran with others and hid in her cabin. She took long breath and realized that Taj is under terrorist attack. Like any other common man, she has never witnessed such bloody visuals. Her first reaction was to run away from the hotel soon as possible. She rushed off.
5. At reception, she saw people are gathered at main entrance. Everyone was in panic and wanted to get out soon as possible. Anxiety, Panic resulted in Chaos. She knew back-exit, meant only for housekeeping staff. She rushed to the back-exit.
6. Gate was controlled by Mumbai Police. She shown her ID card and police let her go. She came out of the premise with deep relief, as gentle breeze from Arabian sea caressed her cheek.
7. While crossing, the main entrance, she saw police commandoes are descending from their vehicle. Media, Police officers, mobile hospital vans, a hell of activities were happening. She stopped for a moment. Looking at all these activities, she felt deep pain for her hotel. Her hotel is attacked. Somebody is trying to hurt Taj’s dignity!! A thought just crossed her mind “What about the guests?”.. How will my colleges will manage this havoc?” As house keeper personal she can imagine the hardship of her fellow colleges while dealing with guests in such situation. “ I should stay back and help my colleges” she thought. “I should stay.. My Taj needs me now.. I must help...” She told to herself. She turned back into the premise.
8. She donned her housekeeping uniform and went to meet her manager. Manager Mr. Robin, was quite busy in planning the activities with commando chief. He saw Sabnam “Thank God Sabnam, you stayed. “, giving an appraising look. He continued “ All the guests have been told to remain in their room till their rescue operation is planned. We have to get all the guests out of their rooms safely. Since you know very well about operating master key, please ensure that each guest of 3^rd floor vacates the room and security staff will assist them to get out of the hotel. Safety of guests is prime concern. These commandos will be with you for the security..   ” Sabnam nodded her face.

Logic behind Sabnam to take lead in evacuation operation is that,  seeing Sabnam as Taj personnel, at their doorstep will help to win the trust of scared guests and she knew very well how to deal with various emotions of a guest.

9. There was total 70 rooms on 3^rd floor and few of them were vacant. Commando Chief told Sabnam to wait for sometime, till they organize themselves.
10. Sabnam got back to her cabin. She red her message updates about Terrorists attack at Oberoi and CST station. Suddenly her mobile rang. It was her father. Listening to her father’s voice, Sabnam could not stop herself from explaining the horror she has seen. Pool of blood, dead-bodies, panicky faces, anxiety, commandoes.. within few hours life has been so terrible and demanding for her..  She told her father about her resolute to stay back and help the guests.  Listening to her bold statement, her father had nothing to say rather than agreeing with his daughter.  Today he had recognized the shining maturity of his teen daughter.
11. After conversation, Sabnam decided to get out of her trauma and get ready to help commandos. She went through the list of guests and tried to remember each of them.
12. Suddenly a masked man, with wild fire burning behind emerged in front of her ..  Masked man yelled  “Leave…go back, or we will kill you…” and fired rain of bullets… She woke up and realized that it was nightmare. She found a commando, standing near to her. Commando gently told her” Madam, its time to go…”… She did not deterred by the nightmare and left to save her guests.
13. Sabnam took master key and prepared for the daunting task. She had to open each door and inform guests to vacate the room. Terrorists could have been hidden in one of the rooms thus it’s very important to be alert and careful.

Mostly in difficult times, Common Man of street, shows remarkable inner strength and maturity, hidden within him/her. Sabnam was in process of realizing her inner strength, which was forgotten in daily hardships.

14. Sabnam started knocking each room, if room is not opened than Subnam used master key to unlock the room. Her hands were trembling while opening but her resolve was firm. She was scared but did not  let her fear take over her commitment to the hotel.
15. She knocked the rooms. In her sweet voice, she informed to the guests, that she is from Taj house keeping.  Her smile was relaxing to frightened guests, as doctor’s assurance to the patients. Guests were waiting eagerly for rescue team and Sabnam seemed as Angel to them. Sabnam dealt with some weird guests also.
16. Sabnam opened room 311, and found lady sleeping heavily. She woke her up and Lady was shocked to see team of commandos. Lady appeared as wealthy NRI. This lady has taken sleeping pill at 8.00 PM and totally unaware of terrorist attack. After knowing about the attack, she took it very lightly and did not wanted to leave the room. Some people live in their own world. They are least worried about others and totally self obsessed as our Lady.

On insistence, she started scolding Sabnam and Taj Management for security lapse and threatened to sue Sabnam if she forcefully evacuated. Sabnam switched on the TV to explain the gravity of the situation. A picture is worth thousand words. Trick worked. Looking at carnage at CST station, Hotel Oberoi, Kasab, fire engulfing hotel Taj… she understood the gravity of situation. She was so scared that she left the room in her night dress, without taking her luggage also.

17. At Room 315, there was another sample. The French guy residing in that room wanted to be present and participate in capturing terrorists. For him it would be quite an adventurous and thrilling. Commandos explained him that without French government permission, he could not join. Dejected and angry, he left the room.
18. Sabnam knocked Room 320. There was no response and Sabnam opened the door with master key. She found a thin young man, standing in front of her.  One militarily trained, highly religious fanatic, weapon lad terrorist was facing a girl with fragile body and with no training of such grave situation. Still she was there to help her guests. She was braver than him.

Terrorist did not like the smile of Sabnam. He had assumed that Taj will succumb in fear but Taj in form of Sabnam standing in front of him with a coverage and commitment to serve its guests. It was his defeat. His guns could not tame the spirit of Sabnam. Terrorist revealed his gun and fired at Sabnam.. Sabnam ducked and bullet passed by her. Another shot.. and bullet hit Commando standing behind Sabnam. He collapsed. His AK 47 handle hits Sabnam on the head.  Rest of Commando fired back and terrorist collapsed. Sabnam was badly injured and taken to hospital.

19. Sabnam was taken to nearby mobile hospital, where she was given first medical aid. 
20. After 6 months, Taj hotel was reopened for the world, and at opening ceremony entire Taj staff who has shown incredible commitment and strength during terrorist attacks were facilitated by chairman of Tata group, Shri Ratan Tata. As proud member of house keeping, Sabnam went to the dice and shock hands with Ratan Tata. She looked at her hands. It was same hand which trembled while opening the doors at night of 26/11 and now thundering in appraisal.

On 26/11 Sabnam was house keeping personal. Today she is the same house keeping personal, serving Taj guests. It was pure commitment without any kind of  expectation.

Lets celebrate numerous Sabnams like common men and women, who demonstrate remarkable inner strength and coverage in difficult times, be it terrorist attack or natural calamity. Let’s be proud of them rather then mourning our messy politicians.

We salute them.

By

Vadan