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Anxious Emigres Contact Families

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The Associated Press

Published: November 28, 2008

ATLANTA - Angela Mulchandami was relieved to see her mother made it aboard a flight from Mumbai, India, to Atlanta on Thursday morning.

A day earlier, Mumbai was the scene of a highly coordinated terrorist attack that had killed at least 119 people at 10 sites, including several luxury hotels.

"It's hard not knowing how all of your loved ones are, especially when you are seeing it on TV," said Mulchandami, 25, as she waited at the airport. "I didn't know if she had made the flight."

Indian-Americans and others across America with connections to the city under siege were frantically trying to get in touch with loved ones and colleagues Thursday. As they watched the scenes from Mumbai play out, Americans sent worried phone calls and e-mail to scores of friends and family.

At least two American women were among the injured. Andi Varagon of Nashville, Tenn., called her mother, Celeste Varagon, from a hospital Thursday and said she had been shot in the arm and leg while eating dinner at the Taj Mahal Palace and Tower hotel.

At Least 3 Americans Injured

Another Tennessee woman traveling with her was also injured, but her name was not immediately available, Celeste Varagon said. State Department spokesman Robert McInturff said Thursday at least three Americans were injured in the attacks, but said he could not identify them.

The motive for the violence was unclear, but Mumbai has frequently been targeted in terrorist attacks blamed on Islamic extremists, including a series of bombings in July 2007 that killed 187 people.

Karan Maheshwari, 25, also arrived in Atlanta from Mumbai on Thursday morning. His mother called him before he took off to say that his high school biology teacher had been shot to death and two family friends were being held captive at the Taj Mahal hotel.

"They are just killing innocent people," said Maheshwari, who works for the McKinsey & Co. consulting firm across the street from the Oberoi Hotel, which was also attacked.

Sumita Batra, 39, who owns a chain of Indian-influenced beauty salons in Southern California, said she has two close friends who are in Mumbai for the holiday season. After several hours of trying Thursday, she finally reached one who was traveling with her 3-year-old son.

"It's so weird because they keep showing the same thing over and over again. I don't know what I'm looking for. I'm hoping that I can hear that it's over," said Batra, who lives in Artesia, a southern Los Angeles County city that's home to the region's Little India.

Atlanta Resident Left Hotel Early

Viren K. Bhandari said he checked out of the Oberoi hotel about three hours before the attacks began. He said he would have normally not left the hotel so early, but had a business meeting before he had to be at the airport.

"I could have been just outside when it all started," the Atlanta resident said as he waited for his baggage at the city's airport.

Indian-American and Hindu communities across the United States were trying to understand the rash violence in India's financial capital.

"It makes you wonder: Does it have anything to do with the previous round of terrorist attacks?" said Parthiv Parekh, editor of Khabar, a magazine for Indian-Americans in Atlanta. "If people don't stop getting wrapped up in sentiment and emotions and tit-for-tat, it will never end."

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