The staircase that connects the Trident to the Oberoi Hotel has commandos still running up and down. While one heavily armed NSG contingent is preparing to leave the hotel, their sniffer dogs in tow, Army commandos are moving up to inspect the upper floors. One medical team climbs down, all masks firmly in place. “Nine bodies are still lying on the floors above,” says one paramedic.

Even in this setting, the Oberoi staff display exemplary grace. Executive Vice President Devendra Bharma, busy in a conversation, perhaps with relatives of the guests, steps forward to help. He brings me a hotel note pad and a pencil so that I can take notes. “It will take a long, long time for us to repair and reconstruct everything. Because of grenade bursts and gunfire, the roofs have caved in, fires are breaking out, railings have been uprooted,” he says.

Pointing to the bullet marks on the doors of the Opium bar he says, “That is one place where militants chased our staff with automatic guns and killed them on the spot.” Ten members of the staff and around 20 hotel guests were killed during the armed siege, he says.

But others in the hotel say this could be a conservative estimate. Hotel security staff, who have not gone home since Wednesday night, say 26 bodies have been taken out. For the others, thea wait for the next of kin goes on.

Earlier, the sight of a couple holding hands, their bodies stiffened by rigor mortis at least 30 hours after they died, was one of the few things that rose above this stench. “In their last seconds together, one must have squeezed the other’s hand,” said one of the members of a team of politicians and policemen who accompanied Home Minister R R Patil into the Oberoi.

... contd.