Although Mumbai’s (or Bombay’s) 550-room luxury Trident Hotel (photo above) did not put up its usual festive Christmas tree this year, its loyal clients are returning. Much of the credit for this goes to Rattan Keswani, president of Trident Hotels in India, and his team for turning the bloody war zone into a normal hotel again…that too within three weeks of the dastardly terrorist attack.
Gentle, soft spoken but thoroughly efficient Keswani, whom I have known for a few years, spoke to me from Mumbai on the phone today: “Yes, it is Christmas and festive season. But keeping in mind the last month’s happenings, our celebrations are low key. But our restaurants are prepared to greet and cater to those who wish to celebrate Christmas and New Year.”
“Business at the newly-reopened Trident hotel( owned by EIH Ltd., part of India’s Oberoi Group) and the (over 100-year-old) Taj hotel is steadily picking up,” reports The Hindu.
“The iconic Taj Hotel, which threw open its tower wing yesterday, has comparatively more occupants with nearly half of its rooms booked.”
An earlier Bloomberg report says:”Paul A. Folmsbee, U.S. consul general, attended the reopening of the Trident Hotel with his wife Jaunita, who wore a salwar kameez, a traditional Indian dress.
” ‘We are here to encourage normalcy’,” he said in the (Trident) hotel’s coffee shop. ‘Once we came to know it was a terror attack we got in touch with all Americans in Mumbai and after the siege realized six Americans had lost their lives’.
“A steady flow of cars and guests endured traffic jams, gun emplacements and security checks last night as Mumbai’s Taj and Trident hotels reopened less than a month after terrorists killed guests and employees.
“Diplomats, religious leaders and victims of the attacks attended prayers and services to remember those who died. Others came out of curiosity or to dine at the reopened restaurants, which were booked out for the whole evening. For some, including an Aeroflot flight crew that checked in at the Trident, it was simply business as usual.
“Guests walked past a sandbagged bunker of soldiers to have their bags screened near the steps of the hotel, before passing though a metal detector to enter the lobby.” More here…
Meanwhile, a month after terror attack, Jews light lamp of hope, says a report from New Delhi…More here…
Swaraaj Chauhan describes his two-decade-long stint as a full-time journalist as eventful, purposeful, and full of joy and excitement. In 1993 he could foresee a different work culture appearing on the horizon, and decided to devote full time to teaching journalism (also, partly, with a desire to give back to the community from where he had enriched himself so much.)
Alongside, he worked for about a year in 1993 for the US State Department’s SPAN magazine, a nearly five-decade-old art and culture monthly magazine promoting US-India relations. It gave him an excellent opportunity to learn about things American, plus the pleasure of playing tennis in the lavish American embassy compound in the heart of New Delhi.
In !995 he joined WWF-India as a full-time media and environment education consultant and worked there for five years travelling a great deal, including to Husum in Germany as a part of the international team to formulate WWF’s Eco-tourism policy.
He taught journalism to honors students in a college affiliated to the University of Delhi, as also at the prestigious Indian Institute of Mass Communication where he lectured on “Development Journalism” to mid-career journalists/Information officers from the SAARC, African, East European and Latin American countries, for eight years.
In 2004 the BBC World Service Trust (BBC WST) selected him as a Trainer/Mentor for India under a European Union project. In 2008/09 He completed another European Union-funded project for the BBC WST related to Disaster Management and media coverage in two eastern States in India — West Bengal and Orissa.
Last year, he spent a couple of months in Australia and enjoyed trekking, and also taught for a while at the University of South Australia.
Recently, he was appointed as a Member of the Board of Studies at Chitkara University in Chandigarh, a beautiful city in North India designed by the famous Swiss/French architect Le Corbusier. He also teaches undergraduate and postgraduate students there.
He loves trekking, especially in the hills, and never misses an opportunity to play a game of tennis. The Western and Indian classical music are always within his reach for instant relaxation.
And last, but not least, is his firm belief in the power of the positive thought to heal oneself and others.