Zakaria: You had been warned that there was some danger of some kind of attack. You had elaborate security measures. And it appears that the terrorists waited until you relaxed them at the Taj Hotel, which again suggests some kind of either inside connection or very careful watching of the situation.
Tata: Yes, you know, it's ironic that we did have such a warning, and we did have some measures to, you know, where people couldn't park their cars in the portico where you had to go through a metal detector.
But if I look at what we had, which all of us complained about, it could not have stopped what took place. They didn't come through that entrance. They came from somewhere in the back.
They planned everything. I believe they -- the first thing they did was, they shot a sniffer dog and his handler.
They went through the kitchen. They knew what they were doing, and they did not go through the front. All our arrangements were in the front.
Zakaria: You've been back now and seen the hotel. What did it look like?
Tata: It's -- I've only been in the lobby and into the restaurant where the last shootout took place. And I went there this evening just before coming here. It's a very, very sad and depressing sight.
The lobby is relatively untouched, at least at first glance. The restaurant where the firefight took place is riddled with bullet marks, and the walls are scarred with grenade blasts. And it looks like it's been hit by a bomb.
Image: Fire at the Taj Mahal Palace & Tower Hotel following an armed siege on November 29, 2008 in Mumbai. | Photograph: Julian Herbert/Getty Images
Also read: Nandan Nilekani on the idea of a new India
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