Some memories are made of tangible stuff —like a spent bullet shell, bloodied clothes, a ticket stub or a scrawled message from the NSG commandos. All keepsakes of the night of terror that didn’t end. One year later, these little odds and ends serve a dual purpose — to help remember and to help leave behind:

Sabrina D’Costa, 45, looks at a now-fading missive in chalk, on the unpainted cement wall of her 200-sq ft home in a rickety building opposite Nariman House, Colaba, and says: “Every time I look at it, I remember those three days. But I also get over the fear I felt then.” The message was simple: “Sorry aap ka khana kha liya. Aur ghar ganda kar diya.” The NSG snipers who spent three days positioned at her window had helped themselves to the mutton and chapatis D’Costa had left behind when she fled. “We have bullet holes on the roof too,” says D’Costa, a former chartered accountant who is now struggling to run the house with daughter Steffi’s salary from the Taj President, where she works at the front desk. “I want to paint the wall also, though we’ll leave the message portion.”

Harishchandra Shrivardhankar, 58, has a regular office bag that he lugs around everyday. Only, it’s now something of a legend —- he hit terrorist Abu Ismail with it. Shrivardhankar was on his way to CST that night when he realised there was trouble and slipped into the Cama Hospital to hide. “After I reached the fifth floor, I came face to face with Ismail who attacked me with a knife. I took the bag and hit him, and he fell down.” He believes the bag saved him because he was carrying niyaz (food) and gulaab (rose) brought from a dargah.

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