Obama's eyes said it all: 26/11 survivor

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 today.
    
"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.
     
Fifty four-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 targeted 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.