‘Mumbai is my home’

For Burbun, it was probably luck that convinced him to drive to Bandra on the dreaded Wednesday night and he escaped the attack. “My family is in France. I am just waiting for things to settle down. Then, I will check if I can get my belongings back from the hotel. After that, I will leave for home,” he says. Burbun also feels that not many would now risk it to India.

Thanks to Mumbai’s famed spirit, many visitors often overrule

inconveniences here. In the last two days, however, it has shaken up

expatriates from across the world who are in the city for various purposes. Some are here for a holiday, others on business assignments.

Jerome Oberhauser, a senior hairstylist with Jean-Claude Biguine, Bandra, feels the incident will raise questions about the safety and security of tourists in India. “We are in a complete state of shock. It is a very sad and helpless scenario,” he says. Oberhauser, who hails from France, feels that everyone will now think twice before visiting Mumbai.

Such fears are echoed by DJ Morphelius, a DJ at Four Seasons, too. “I have been locked up in my room since Wednesday. It is still dangerous to step out because of security reasons,” says Morphlelius. Still, he plans to stay back in India till January. The DJ has been in constant touch with his family in the UK. His friends and family have been prodding him to return. But Morphelius is keen to stay on. “I hang out in Colaba almost every other day. I have visited Cafe Leopold on too many occasions. But this time around, I will think twice before going there,” he says, demanding for a better security system in India.

Despite the terror attacks, it seems like pragmatism is overcoming fear.

A case in point is of Ferena Waizer from Scotland. She is in Mumbai to try her luck in Bollywood. “I have been frequenting India over the last three years and I consider Mumbai to be my home. There is no way I am going back,” says Waizer. The aspiring actress is practical enough to see the incident as something that happens around the world. “The initial reaction is panic, but then terrorism is a part of our life these days.”

Dennes Van Egmond is another voice of optimism. This businessman from Holland, a frequent visitor to India, does not feel that these terrorist attacks are going to shake India in anyway. “It happens everywhere, from New York to Tokyo, London to Madrid. I am sure India will emerge from this and I will return to India,” says Egmond, who often visits Wasabi at the Taj Mahal Palace and Tower for their sushi. He was thankful to God that he didn’t end up there on Wednesday night. The Dutchman has a word of caution: “A country like India, cannot have security guards stationed only in New Delhi. India belongs to the big boys’ gang now. It is not a small country anymore.”