Moshe was often seen in the neighbourhood. Playing in his compound. Locals were quite taken in by the baby's charm and the fact that he was always smiling. Says Colaba Market resident Margaret Gabriel, who lives a few buildings away. "He was so cute." The Holtzbergs were apparently getting ready for a third child and her father announced at her funeral at the Mount of Olives in Israel that she was five months pregnant.
On November 26 Dr Zorabi had just locked up his eye clinic at 9.30 pm and gone to his home in nearby Cusrow Baug and had had his dinner when he got a call from his bakery where eight employees were working the night shift. "They said they had been hearing been gunfire and people were running here and there. They said they were frightened and wanted to run for their lives. I was wondering why my manager was losing his cool." He decided to come over and see what the matter was
In the beginning the folks, who live or work in this area of Colaba Market, were baffled what the shooting was about. A crowd began to gather at the corner of the bakery and Nariman House. Their first conclusion was that the 'Jew log' were fighting amongst themselves. And since it sounded quite violent they thought, well-meaningly, that they would barge in and come to the aid of whoever was being attacked within the home.
So they arrived at Chabad House with bamboo sticks and iron rods and began to throw stones and enter the compound, explains Dr Zorabi. That was when one of the terrorists lobbed the first grenade and when Harish Goyal, a young resident of the area, died on the spot of a bullet wound. "He was shot dead in front of my eyes. I thought I would go and help him, but at that point we just decided to run for our lives."
Image: The area around Nariman House. Photograph: Vaihayasi Pande Daniel
Also see: Inside Nariman House
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