We all remember Amitabh Bachchan, as the protagonist Vijay in Deewar and how is badge (Billa) no 786 helped him stave off a bullet wound. Howsoever unreal or dramatic it may have sounded in the movie, a similar real life scenario transpired on the ill-fated night of 26/11 in Mumbai with a chef in Taj Hotel, Mumbai.

A Taj Hotel Chef had a narrow escape from death when a bullet heading for his heart glanced off a pair of chopsticks that he used to carry in his top-pocket. On his chest was a tender, fist shaped bruise.

The above anecdote came out in the book called “The Siege: 68 Hours Inside the Taj Hotel” written by two British correspondents Cathy Scott-Clark and Adrian Levy. The book aims at capturing a detailed account of the 26/11 accounts and provides a lot of anecdotal instances that leaves one aghast.

“The Siege” also recounts that in one particular interesting (and chilling, considering the tech savvy future of terrorism) scene, the attackers messaged a hostage’s name back to the controllers who googled the person name and after doing an image search, congratulated the attackers that they have managed to grab a top-class hostage.

One might recall that on that fated night of 26/11, one of the classiest hotels of the country, The Taj was brought under siege along with Hotel Oberoi leaving over 160 dead.

Coming back to Amitabh and the Badge, mid-day carried a story in Oct 2012, where in a tea-vendor had his bums saved when a bullet directed towards him ricocheted off Rs 10 coins that the vendor had a habit of carrying in his pocket!

On the lighter side, forget insurance and start stuffing your pockets with coins and chopsticks.