Ten years after 26/11, Nariman House gets some ‘Light’

10 years after 26/11

The Nariman House, one of the places that was under siege during the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, is being transformed into a memorial to commemorate all those who lost their lives 10 years ago in the incident.

The five-storey structure at Colaba has been rechristened Nariman Light House, with the theme — ‘a little light repeals much darkness’. “The Nariman Light House will serve as a beacon of light to all,” rabbi Israel Kozlovsky, who heads the Chabad-Lubavitch of Mumbai, told DH on the eve of the 10th anniversary of Mumbai attacks.

There are several memorials related to 26/11 (at the Taj Mahal Palace & Tower, the Oberoi-Trident, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus, Girgaum Chowpatty). However, the Nariman Light House will have the names of all the 166 people who lost their lives in the 60-hour fidayeen commando raid.

On Monday, the first phase of the memorial on the terrace of the building — which has names of all the victims and the planks of places under attack — will be unveiled. “These planks will serve as a mute reminder to what had happened on that fateful night,” Kozlovsky said.

The blueprint for the fourth and fifth floors have been finalised. A common man will be able to see the living room of Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg and Rivka (who were killed) besides the room of their survivor son Moshe, who was just two years then.

In January, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Moshe, his grandparents and nanny Sandra, who rescued him, had visited the Chabad House.

"The fifth floor would show the Jewish way of life," said Kozlovsky. When a person reaches the fourth floor, he/she could see the fractured door and the bullet-ridden hall. "Here, there will be audio-video display of the events of 26/11 and a room on global terrorism," he said.