Was I scared? Numb? Resigned to my fate? Ready to die?? A few hours after the aerial attack on Colombo, I am still reeling and confused. There we were in the rooftop ballroom of the Taj Samudra to attend The Colombo Fashion Week where my new line of relaxed clothing - Spiritual By Shobhaa De - was to debut. We were approvimately three minutes away from the first entry of the lovely model, wearing a garland of Sri Lanka's national flower, the blue water lilly ( nil mahanil), that I had picked as it is a symbol of peace, when the power was switched off, and we were told there was an imminent aerial attack expected and Colombo was instantly enveloped in an eerie black out. Seconds later, we heard the bombs drop and the night sky lit up with flares as the anti aircraft guns went into action!
Rushing down from the ballroom was not going to be easy, considering there were at least 500 people crowding the space. I was seated next to the American Ambassador, Robert Blake, and he moved very quickly as soon as he received a message on his Blackberry. He asked me to follow him through the kitchen - but I was not about to do that and leave my two children behind. I lost him. And started looking around frantically for Aditya and Avantikka. Some of the models were screaming and a few had fainted. People were scrambling to get out, as the terrifying sound of gunfire continued outside. The Taj Samudra is next to the army base, and about a kilometre away from the President's Palace. The air force base ( target) is right next door Initial reports said 4 or 5 Czech made planes flying really low, so as to escape radar detection, had flown in from the sea. Two were shot down - the others were likely to fly back!!
I am still in shock. This is the best I can do right now. Not sure when we can get home. We were to fly out at midnight tonight on an Air Sri Lanka flight. Not the best plan. More when I can...