City at work

Leopold manager 3 times lucky

Eric Anthony,the manager at Café Leopold for the past 10 years,narrowly escaped death not once but thrice when armed terrorists walked into the packed restaurant and opened fire on the evening of 26/11 last year. One year on,as he reported to duty at 5 pm on Thursday,he had mixed feelings. We are not scared any more,but I dont deny that somewhere in the corner of my heart a little fear still exists, he said,getting ready to take his usual place near the entrance of the restaurant to welcome in customers. He says he is convinced that it is his faith in God that saved him from death three times once when the gunmen fired and injured everyone but him seated at a table,then when a grenade just about missed him and finally when a instinctive tilt of my head left me with just a graze from a random bullet. He was lucky to get away with just an inch-wide wound. Had I been a little slow to react,the bullets would have been in my head, he said. Anthony still remembers the two hefty and well-built young men and while the AK-47s they wielded were terrifying he remains most shocked by the breeziness with which they executed their mission. Nitya Kaushik

For CST Inspector,personal loss

For Dilip Mane,the senior police inspector of the Mumbai Railway Police posted at Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus,the 26/11 terror attack was as gruelling professionally as it was personally. Last year,he was on his way home when he got a call. I took the 9.27 CST-Bandra local and had reached Bandra. API Bharat Bhosale called saying that there had been a blast and gunfire. I tried calling Shashank Shinde,but could not get through to him. He boarded a Bandra-Churchgate fast local and got off at Marine Lines,on Western Railway. By the time I reached CST,the terrorists had left,but the scene was terrible. Some colleagues were dead too,including Shashank Shinde,his next in command. But a year on,he can cope with the loss better. Prashant Rangnekar

Have buried the pain,says cop

For Vinod Sawant,a police inspector at the DB Marg police station who was at Girgaum Chowpatty when Ajmal Kasab was captured,it is business as usual on Thursday. There are dark circles under his eyes apart from routine investigative work,Sawant has also spent a sleepless night overseeing security arrangements in the jurisdiction. On this day,one year ago too,Sawant had the same tell-tale eye-bags. I was entrusted with the responsibility of paperwork after Kasab was captured. The whole night had been hectic,with people from the Crime Branch and ATS gathering at the police station,comparing notes and making reports. My team did not go home for the next three to four days, says Sawant. Asked what he feels now that one year has passed,Sawant says,What has happened cannot be changed and it makes no sense dwelling on the past. I was busy with my job then and nothing has changed. The pain and the dark memories are still in our minds and hearts but we have learned to bury it deep inside. Sawant is,however,thankful for the changes post 26/11. The new weapons and vehicles procured after the terror attacks and the specialised units including Force One are welcome moves. At least something good came out of it, he concludes. Jaidev Hemmady

Fireman had never fought firing

On Thursday,Sudhir Amin of the Mumbai fire brigade reported to work at the fire departments Fort branch as usual only this time his shift did not last for over 36 hours as it did on this day exactly a year back. This 44-year-old assistant divisional fire officer was one of the many firemen who risked their lives while rescuing people from the Taj hotel last year and was conferred the Presidents gallantry award. On the night of November 26 last year as Amin was preparing to leave for home,the Fort branch received an emergency call to rush to the Taj. I have seen immense grief among victims,but this time it was coupled with intense fear. I had to keep my faith in God constant while assuring them they would be safe. They were scared that they would fall off the ladder. I told them that if you fall,you will fall on me and wont get hurt, Amin says. There is no room for fear in this profession,but this was the first time we were fighting both fire and firings. Stuti Shukla