What I didn't know that night 9 years ago

9 years ago, 26/11 was a Wednesday. It was a normal working day for me in Mumbai. I had many meetings & conference calls. Also a lot to wind up coz on the weekend  we were leaving for Vancouver to attend my husband Ajay Bagga's younger sister’s wedding.

It was going to be a long day too, coz we had planned to meet our friend Erika Mann, a German politician and Member of the European Parliament (MEP), for dinner. She was visiting Mumbai with a delegation of MEPs and staying at the Taj Mahal Hotel. 

I was preparing for the day, giving instructions, doing  a zillion things I knew I had to finish. What I didn’t know was that over and above it being just a long day, it was going to be a long long night and a very long 72 hours for Mumbai!

What I didn’t know was that a simple idea of having a meal with a friend would turn out to be the most harrowing night of my life!

What I didn’t know was that lives of hundreds of innocent people and their families would change forever that night!

What I didn’t know was that people who I didn’t know & who didn’t know me would come to kill me and save me too !!

Me and Ajay met Erika at the Taj, went to the Masala Craft for dinner at 9:25 pm. (it's a long story why we chose Masala Kraft too!) Almost immediately after we sat down and opened the menu cards, the firing began. Immediately after the first shots were heard, Ajay leapt to shut the door of the restaurant holding up the door tight with his back to it. We stayed in the restaurant for couple of hours, with news emerging of how this was a full blown attack on the city of Mumbai and not a gang war as it was said to be. What followed was a night of dodging bullets & bombs, running & hiding, rising & falling, moments of hope, chilling fear & heartfelt prayer, helping & being helped by unknown people and most importantly, really really appreciating the value of life!

We were rescued the next morning by the NSG and by the time we reached home it was noon. The ordeal was not over for us until Saturday that week, as we tried to get out some colleagues stuck in the Trident, watched the news to hear name after known name biting the dust & Mumbai soaked in the grief of white. 

(Rajita in the red dress, Ajay in the suit)

I saw the sad news of courageous people like Hemant Karkare, Constable Omble, Ashok Kamte, Vijay Salaskar, Sandeep Unnikrishnan laying down their lives fighting the terrorists. From the locations etc described in the news, it appeared that Sandeep Unnikrishnan was defending the areas we were hiding in the Taj. 

He died protecting us. He didn’t know us. Yet he gave up his life. I met his parents in Bangalore at the Art of Living ashram in February the next year. Seeing them, I just broke down. There were no words exchanged; what was left to say? Their son gave us life. Like many of the others who died saving so many more citizens.

Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan, AC 

Sandeep’s parents seem to be doing their best to come to terms with the new reality of their life without their son. Just like the others families must have moved on with great difficulty, trying to pick up the threads of their broken promises and unfulfilled dreams.

Our life changed a lot. What mattered to us, what we spent time on, how we viewed conflicts, our relationships, even our view on how we wanted to spend the rest of our life — everything changed!

Thanks to our practice of Sudarshan Kriya and meditation and the support from our entire Art of Living global family, we were able to overcome the trauma of that experience and rebuild our life positively. 

I wrote a lot after this — a part of my healing process. There is a lot to share. Here I am sharing something that I wrote for Sandeep Unnikrishnan:

(Rajita Kulkarni Bagga is a 26/11 survivor and President, Sri Sri University)