That 23-year-old chef Gautam Singh was one of the most popular students of the Hotel Administration and Food Technology course at Sophia Polytechnic makes it tougher for friends and colleagues to come to terms with the fact that the cheerful youngster, who also worked as tandoor chef at the Taj, was among the first to die when terror struck at the hotel. A resident of Haryana who was here in Mumbai to complete his degree, Gautam came close to being rescued but not quite.

“I spoke to him on the night he died; we spoke last at 2.30 am. His battery was low and he was scared and tired,” recalls Manpreet Dhody,18, a first year student of the same course.

“The last thing he told me was ‘agar bach gaya toh kal college main milta hu; bus can’t stay here any more, hopefully we should be rescued soon’.”

Dhody is devastated and cannot stop her tears. Accompanied by friends, she went to Gautam’s Khar residence to pack up his stuff. “We plan to keep a few memories and return the rest to his parents when they come to the college,” she said.

The handwritten notes Singh left behind are in great demand from his peers and colleagues. “Everybody wants to own a piece to preserve his memory,” says Dhody.

The last hours of Singh, while he was trapped at the Taj were recounted to Dhody and the rest of the 3rd year students of HAFT who were with Gautam in the main kitchen at Taj but survived.

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