Another commando—who was involved in the Nariman House operation and who was waiting for his colleagues at the Taj hotel to finish theirs—talked about his experience. “It was a critical operation as the building was surrounded by other residential buildings. There was no question of entering through the gate as the terrorists kept lobbing grenades at us. So we decided to launch an aerial attack,” he said.

The 25-year-old commando hailing from Rajasthan had abseiled down from the NSG chopper onto the rooftop of Nariman House. “When we landed on the rooftop, we thought the operation would be over in a few hours. But when they opened fire and started throwing grenades at us, we knew we were in for a long haul.

The hostages, he said, had been shot from close range. “Their hands were tied behind their backs and from their bodies, it appeared they hadn’t been shot at the same time.”

The terrorist were well trained, the commando said, and never stayed together. “They were thorough professionals in that they never attacked first, which meant that they didn’t ever disclose their location. The two terrorists were not on the same floor. When the light began fading out on Friday, our commanding officer (CO) decided to blow up the entire third floor, which finally led to their death.

Is he relieved it’s over? “Yeh saab toh humareliye kuch naya nahin hai.” Just another day at work?