At the start of last week, 24-year-old trainee Sadanand Ratan Patil had been chosen by the Taj Mahal hotel management to be a full-fledged staff member. In the early hours of Thursday morning, his dream of becoming a chef ended in a brutal manner.

While he was on his way from the first floor of the hotel to the basement, Patil was shot dead by one of the terrorists. “A little earlier, we were together in the basement, talking to our principal over the phone. That was at around 2 am. The last time I saw him was around 2:30 am, he was standing on the stairway. At around 10:00 am, I got to know that they had found his body,” said Mohit Vichare, another trainee chef and Patil's classmate. Vichare describes Patil as a friendly person who was always smiling. “He loved to travel,” he said.

Patil’s younger brother and father are both the hotel’s employees. His father was on leave and his brother, also a trainee chef, was safe. “I don't know how many friends I have lost. All the dead are my own people,” said Vichare.