Little did Faridabad-based Dev Singh Gosain realise that when his son Gautam’s number flashed on his cellphone at 2.30 am on Thursday, it would be the last conversation between them.

A couple of hours later Gautam Gosain, 25, a trainee with the Taj Mahal Hotel in Mumbai, was hit by bullets in his abdomen from one of the terrorists in the hotel complex. His last words to his family members were crisp: “I am going down to the basement to hide. Don’t call (on) this number. Please watch the news for more information.”

Gosain senior said his son’s voice was trembling. Gautam could not be traced thereafter and the family’s worst fears were confirmed at 9 am Thursday when they received a phone call from the Sofia College principal, telling them that Gautam has passed away en route to the hospital. He was a student in the South Mumbai college.

Gautam’s mother Radha Gosain could not control her emotions any longer, while his father tried hard to appear composed when Newsline met the family on Friday morning. Gautam was completing a two-year training programme as a chef with the Taj Mahal hotel. Like any other weekday, Gautam was on the evening shift, busy in the hotel’s kitchen when terrorists barged in.

“As part of his course in Sofia College, he went for practical training daily to the Taj Mahal hotel six days a week,” said R P Uniyal, a close family friend.

His father, along with close relatives, flew back to Delhi on Thursday evening with Gautam’s body. Close friends described Gautam as jovial and chatty, who had grown to love Mumbai in his five years there. “He wanted to settle down in Mumbai and pursue a career in hotel management since he felt the city provided more opportunity than Faridabad,” Uniyal said. “He was even making arrangements for his parents to visit him in January.”