In a show of solidarity and perhaps the first major one post 26/11, hotel professionals from across the country got together on Wednesday and pledged their support to the Taj, and Oberoi hotels and others victims of the gruesome terror attacks - policemen, firefighters, NSG commandoes et al. Speaking at the event at Dadar Catering College, celebrity chef Sanjeev Kapoor said that hotel staff have always faced aggression but they, subsequently, created a safety net around themselves. “My first job as a hotel professional was at a small hotel in Varanasi, where after I had once rejected a vegetable supplier’s contract, he threatened me with a gun,” Kapoor said, adding that a terrorist attack of the magnitude of 26/11 could have never been comprehended by anyone. “With this kind of terrorism, where is the safety net?” he asked. Snehal Kulshreshtha, a senior vice president (hospitality) with Kalpataru Limited said he could identify with all of the hotels’ staffers on that night as he had himself worked in the very same corridors. “After my classes, I would go to the Taj Hotel for various training duties like dishwashing or cleaning. So having known the hotel’s back areas, I could very well imagine what would have been going on inside,” said Kulshreshtha, who started his career with the Taj Hotel as a trainee and later started working with the Oberoi. However, a fellow colleague, who survived the terror attack, touched hearts of the audience with his account. Bhisham Mansukhani, who was a guest at the Taj Hotel on November 26 and is associated with the hospitality business, said that even till the very late in the night, many guests around him had no idea of the seriousness of the situation. “We were talking about opening the bar,” said Mansukhani, who dedicated most of his words to the hotel staff’s gallant and polite behaviour during the siege. He added that he himself was guilty of demanding too much from the staff in those trying hours. “I was guilty of throwing a tantrum when a Taj staffer could not find me a phone charging point,” said Mansukhani. Meanwhile, many at the event said that the effect of the terror attacks has been worse on the children. “It took me almost three day to convince my daughter that ours is a safe county as she said that she did not want to live here anymore,” said Kapoor. The meet was organised by hotel professionals under the heading Hoteliers Oppose Senseless Terrorism (HOST).
