BANGALORE: Kirloskar group chairman Vijay Kirloskar was at the Oberoi on the day terror struck Mumbai. The Bangalore-based industrialist, who had a miraculous escape, thanked his 50-year-long asthma problem for saving him from the “worst moment of his life.”

Kirloskar checked into the Trident on November 26 at around 10am. He was attending a business meeting. Oblivious to what was coming his way, he came back to his room at 8.15 pm to rest for a while. “I was in room number 1460 on the fourth floor of the hotel along with my PRO John Samuel and Pothiraj my physiotherapist friend.”

When terror struck Hotel Trident in Mumbai on the night of November 26, Vijay Kirloskar, chairman of the Kirloskar group was at the Oberoi. He was caught in his room with two of his friends.

Ten minutes later Kirloskar and his friends heard a firecracker-like noise outside their room. “It sounded like machine guns. I could sense something wrong, but had no clue that it was a terror attack,” he said.

Kirloskar and his friends locked themselves up in the room and called up the room service. “None of the lines were working. Even the TV set inside the room was disconnected. All we could hear was the noise of guns,” he said.

At one point of time Kirloskar and his friends opened the door to see what was happening. “We saw a man near the lift who told us to lock ourselves up in the room and not come out,” he said.

“Around 11.15 pm, we heared three big explosions, which I was told later were grenade blasts, outside my room. There was
smoke and dust everywhere. The asthma made it tough. Pothiraj and I put wet towels on the floor blocking the door but it was not helping much. The AC was pulling all the smoke inside,” he said.

“I knew I had to make a choice fast. It either had to be the terrorist or my ailment. We decided to take a chance. We took the map and headed towards the door. My eyesight is not good. Pothiraj helped me out with the stairs and finally managed to escape through the emergency exit.”

The businessman thanks his ailment for making him do the right thing. “It saved my life. God has given me the strength to cope up with the situation and overcome the aftermath,” Kirloskar said.

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