At Rex Bakery the workers hit the floor and turned off the lights. "I realised this has nothing to do with any internal conflict at Nariman House. I also got a call from my wife who told me about the firing at Leopold Cafe. Its owners are friends of ours. It was then that I knew that the attack had something with Nariman House's connection with the Jewish network. I decided I would accumulate my staff and hit the main road."

"At the same time I was trying to keep watch on the bakery. It has a high chimney and I didn't want them to set it ablaze. That's when the largest explosion went off at the petrol pump." Dr Zorabi says he was just a few feet away from the third explosion standing at the panch pairi (the steps that take you into Rajwadkar Street) and narrowly missed becoming a casualty himself.

"By phone I instructed whatever bakery staff were remaining to run for their life. They broke open the back door and ran out. Ambulances began to run to and fro. By that time the terrorists were firing at anybody and everywhere. I had a strong feeling that the rabbi was shot that night."

Dr Zorabi is certain that the terrorists must have visited Rajwadkar Street before to check out how to access Nariman House. Since the police have not yet released pictures of the terrorists at Nariman House, local residents have not had a chance to identify the faces.

He also relates the story going around that the terrorists ordered 100 kg of chicken and wine from the market. "It was apparently delivered to Nariman House. Possibly it was an order that the Holtzbergs had placed that they intercepted."

The battered bodies of Rivka and Gavriel Holtzberg left Rajwadkar Street in an ambulance on the morning of November 29, says the surgeon. Kuresh Zorabi was never able to make pita bread for his charming neighbour.

Image: The area adjoining Nariman House. Photograph: Vaihayasi Pande Daniel

Also read: Doctors shocked at hostages's torture

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