14 Hours is the tale of a survivor of the 26/11 Mumbai attacks
14 Hours : An Insider?s Account of the 26/11 Taj Attacks
Ankur Chawla
Rupa
Rs. 195
Pg 164
It has been four years since Mumbai was hit on that fateful night of November 26, 2008, and a nation?s spirit was bruised. Many believe that the recent execution of the lone surviving perpetrator of the ghastly 26/11 attack, Ajmal Amir Kasab, would have brought closure, even if partial. For all its worth, closure or the lack of it doesn?t dwell in generalities, hijacking what is indeed a very personal and subjective domain, at least for those who bore the brunt first hand. One such survivor chose to write an account of what turned out to be the longest night of his life. Ankur Chawla, at the time, was an operations management trainee with the iconic Taj Mahal Palace and Tower, the structure that became a symbol of that terrorist attack. Chawla was in the hotel when the attack began in the evening and spent 14 anxious hours, with death all around, till he finally got out, alive and safe. This is his story, or so to say, a tale of a survivor of perhaps the most unforgettable terrorist attack on Indian soil.
But the account itself is completely forgettable. It lacks sensitivity and the author seems unsure if he wants to write a sensitive, poignant piece on what transpired that night, or a piece of railway station fiction. The effort to adopt a casual, uber-cool narrative style?bordering on inspiration from Chetan Bhagat-ish literature?is plainly evident. The book goes horribly wrong with the element of over-dramatisation that seems forced on the story. While the thought might have been to put the readers at ease with a chit-chat conversational style of writing, it ends up oversimplifying and, to an extent, diluting the intensity of the attack and its impact on a city, nation and society. It ends up being a hurried attempt at chronicling a significant event, in popular fiction style of course.
Lack of decent editing also delivers quite a blow to the book with a typo appearing every few pages. 14 Hours ends up being an avoidable book.
