FROM THE LANDING TO THE ATTACK

It8217;s business as usual at Colaba restaurant Cafeacute; Leopold, with backpackers mingling with South Mumbai office-goers unwinding with a mid-week beer. Suddenly, two men walk in, whip out machine guns and open fire. Within minutes, they have fired several dozen rounds. As some drop and others scatter, they walk outside, firing randomly as they run towards the Taj, a couple of hundred metres away. En route, bystanders and shop-owners are hit by bullets.

9.55 pm

Simultaneously, 2 gunmen 8211; Kasab and Abu Dera Ismael Khan 8211; have opened fire inside the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus. Railway announcer Vishnu Zende 37 later describes them as 8220;young, well-built and showing no sign of fear8221;. A haversack slung under one arm and wielding a machine gun, Kasab has a slight bounce in his gait, almost enjoying his assignment as commuters heading home run for cover. Zende saves hundreds of lives with his presence of mind, urgently announcing that people should either stay put inside trains or head out from the opposite direction, from Platform No 1.

Having killed an RPF policeman and a ticket collector 8212; among the 55 people who died inside the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus 8212; the terrorist duo stay inside the station building for a considerable length of time, shooting randomly and returning fire as RPF and Mumbai Police personnel try to subdue them.

Mohammad Toufiq Sheikh 28, a tea-vendor at the station, is one of those who won8217;t forget the sight. Frightened out of his wits, he runs into a reservation room, alerts officials, and locks the door. But the glass faccedil;ade of the counter is a dead giveaway and one of the two gunmen kicks at the door repeatedly. The terrorist then fires at the glass faccedil;ade, which shatters partially. 8220;He saw me, and fired two rounds. One hit the wooden table and the next hit the wall.He then spat out a cuss word,8221; Sheikh recalls.

10.03 pm

Firing begins inside the Taj at the Gateway of India. The two shooters from Cafe Leopold have been joined by two others in the Taj. None of them has taken the front entrance, it is believed they knew how to enter through a side entrance known to very few, via the kitchen. This is the beginning of what will be a 60-hour siege during which the world will see horrific sights of a beloved Mumbai 8212; and Indian 8212; icon in flames.

10.15 pm

Even as the Mumbai police and the Maharashtra ATS rush into action, cops from across South Mumbai assemble at various points and ATS chief Hemant Karkare reaches CST, there is a burst of gunfire outside the Oberoi Hotel at Nariman Point. Two gunmen stride into the hotel lobby, killing almost all staff members there. Two loud explosions follow in the next half hour. With that begins the two-day siege of the Trident -Oberoi.

10.20 pm

Nariman House, the Mumbai headquarters of the ultra-Orthodox Chabad Lubavitch movement becomes a target. A gunshot startles the family of Rabbi Gavriel Noach Holtzberg and others inside the recently renovated five-storey Jewish centre in a Colaba back lane. The pale yellow building, with its synagogue, kosher dining room and friendly rabbi, is said to have been a magnet for Israeli backpackers looking for a place to celebrate holidays while on vacation, and an important religious center for Mumbai8217;s small Jewish community. Someone must be lighting firecrackers, thinks Sandra Samuel, a maid at the centre. And then, suddenly, a gunman comes up the stairs. Sandra and another employee duck into a room and hide in terror as explosions and gunshots rattle the building through the night. The next morning, she will be able to run out with the rabbi8217;s 2-year-old son. 8220;They destroyed everything, the lift, the dining room, everything,8221; she says later.

10.25 pm

About half an hour after entering the Chhattrapati Shivaji Terminus railway station, Kasab and Khan take the north end foot overbridge of the splendid heritage structure to cross over to the pavement on the other side of DN Road 8212; outside the Times of India Building. From there, they open fire again across the road, in the direction of the railway station, perhaps to ward off anybody who might dare to chase after them.

Kasab and Khan then walk briskly into the lane leading to the back entrance of Cama Hospital, where they kill two security personnel, Bhanu Narkar and Baban Ugade. They then open indiscriminate fire in the employees8217; quarters.

The terrorist spend the next five to 10 minutes shooting randomly and lobbing grenades. They pass through to the front entrance as they shoot, towards Mahapalika Marg.

Continuing to fire indiscriminately, they climb up to the fourth and fifth floors which house the maternity ward in the five-storey hospital. One of the two maternity wards is locked from the inside and the other has been fastened by women occupying it, using a cloth.

Twenty-five women, along with newborn babies and three other men lock themselves inside a room within the maternity ward, refusing to open despite several threats from the terrorists.

10.30-10.45 pm

In the meantime, in quick succession, the police control room has received reports of two massive blasts, one in Vile Parle and the other outside the Dockyard Road station. Two taxis have been blown to smithereens. The Mumbai Police would later confirm bombs had been placed under the front seats of both vehicles. A woman dies in the Dockyard explosion. The police later give clean chits to the owners of the two taxis.

10.59 pm

Back outside Cama Hospital, Khan and Kasab fire at a police vehicle approaching them. It is carrying the chief of the Anti-terrorism Squad Hemant Karkare, Additional CP Ashok Kamte, Senior Police Inspector and celebrated 8216;encounter specialist8217; Vijay Salaskar, and a driver. All three officers are killed in the firing, Mumbai and India lose three of their best crime-fighters at the same time. The driver of the vehicle survives.

11.10 pm

Having taken the vehicle, a police Toyota Qualis, the two terrorists speed past onlookers and mediapersons gathered outside the Metro Cinema junction, which is about 400 metres away from the front entrance of the Cama Hospital, shooting as they drive past. One policeman is hit even as he is telling people to duck. He dies immediately, along with a bystander. A cameraperson has a finger knocked out by a bullet from the spray.

12.30 am

They head to Vidhan Bhavan in Nariman Point, where they drive around areas like the SBI building and Mantralaya. The Qualis suffers a flat tyre. They get off, hijack a Skoda at gunpoint and then drive off in the direction of Girgaum Chowpatty, where an emergency nakabandi slows them down. While they kill one assistant sub-inspector who tries to stop them, they are shot at by officers of the DB Marg police station. Khan dies, Kasab is taken into custody.