Mumbai: US President Barack Obama`s eyes said
it all.
This is how Scherr Kia Dilisek, an American survivor of
26/11 attacks, summed up her brief interaction with the
visiting dignitary at a private meeting here on Saturday.
"He (Obama) deeply connected with each of us present in
the room. It was a very heartfelt and moving occasion for us.
Though he didn`t speak much, his eyes spoke a lot. It was a
connection of the heart rather...," she said.
54-year-old Dilisek, who lost her daughter Naomi (13)
and husband Alan (58) at the Oberoi`s Tiffin restaurant, told
reporters that, "It was a very emotional moment when Obama
shook hands with each one of us."
Obama paid homage to the 26/11 victims and met some of
the survivors at the Taj hotel.
Dilisek and Karambir Kang, the then general manager of
the Taj were among 12 survivors from the Taj and
Oberoi-Trident hotels whom the US President met privately
after paying respect to the victims of the attacks.
Kang, who lost his wife and two sons, came in for
special praise by Obama who lauded him for his extraordinary
courage in evacuating the guests during the attack by
Pakistani terrorists.
Dilisek is in Mumbai for the last three weeks to attend
the second anniversary of 26/11 carnage.
Five US nationals were killed in the terror strikes that
targetted apart from Taj and Oberoi-Trident hotels, the
bustling Chhatrapati Shivaji Railway Terminus, Chabad House
and Leopold Cafe.
Moumina Khatun, whose husband Mohammad Umar, a taxi
driver, was killed when his vehicle in which the terrorists
had planted a bomb exploded at Vile Parle, did not understand
much of what Obama spoke.
"I didn`t understand what he spoke but I could make out
that he said something about the 26/11 victims," Khatun said.
PTI
