After that they put me in a car and sent me back to my office. By that time there were 200 commandos patrolling this area, right near my old home. The operation began at 7 and went on till 8 pm -- it was a 13-hour operation.
Towards the end of the operation I met Brigadier Negi again near Malode House. He said they had now finished what they had come to do. While I was talking to the brigadier I got a call from a senior police inspector. He said, 'Surveji jaldi se bahaar aa jane (Mr Surve please come out quickly).'
I asked what the matter was. But he said, 'Please come quickly. The news has come on television that the operation is over and out of joy the public is heading towards Nariman House. It is not over. Please stop them. I am not able to stop them. Without firing or a lathi charge I cannot stop them.'
So I went out and I can see some 200 boys headed to paanch peri (the five steps at the start of Rajwadker street where Nariman House is located) and the mediapeople were following them with their cameras.
I said: 'What is this craziness? Remove everybody.' I told my workers to remove everyone because the operation is still going on.
If the crowd had entered Nariman House the whole operation would have failed. There were so many grenades strewn there, right through the building. If the public had gone into the building 20 to 25 of them would have died right there.
I really think the most valuable piece of work I did on those days was to get the crowd out that night.
I came back to speak to Brigadier Negi after that. He told me they would fire a few rounds of gunfire more in Nariman House and explode another grenade and after this 'wash' they would be sure that the operation is over. They asked us to have an ambulance ready. So we sent an ambulance into Nariman House in such a way that no one could see it, from a lane from the bakery side.
Do you know that while we were doing all this, alongside we had to organise food, water and stay for the commandos and the evacuated people. The food etc was organised by the vibhag pramukhs (area chiefs), my seniors Arunbhai Dudwakar, Vikas Mayekar and others.
And all this was done without any funding. From our pockets. Everyone chipped in. We did not get any help from the government. At that point the government had just failed. We were minding the public, supporting the NSG, supporting the police and feeding all these people too.
And food from where? The whole of Colaba was closed. There was no milk. No water. How to feed 200 to 250 people? The workers organised this. They opened up all the closed shops and took out Bisleri and rice. Cafe Paris, nearby, was open all night and we took whatever water and supplies they had.
Kailash Parbat organised food for 250 people for two days. After a while they had no gas. They told us that they needed diesel to light their bhatti (stoves). Where to get diesel from? So one of the workers Ramesh Mair went and got diesel from the fishing boats at Machimar Nagar (the fishing colony right behind the shakha office),
The police and commandos could not leave their posts for all of those three days. They had no chance to move from here. I had no chance to either -- I was there for all those three days in the same clothes -- no brushing, no food.
My wife kept calling, saying, 'You are going to die... What are you doing there?' I asked her, 'What about the other people? Won't they get shot? Or will only your husband get shot?'
After that I switched off the phone for three days.
Image: Senior commanders of the NSG's Operation Black Tornado with Vijay Surve and his family. Photograph, courtesy Vijay Surve.
Also see: Terror's youngest victim
Advertisement
After that they put me in a car and sent me back to my office. By that time there were 200 commandos patrolling this area, right near my old home. The operation began at 7 and went on till 8 pm -- it was a 13-hour operation.