New Delhi, Dec. 11 -- When Mumbai was attacked on 26 November 2008, the city witnessed 60 hours of bloodshed that left 166 people dead and hundreds injured. For most, the horror unfolded through flickering television screens. But for one senior State Bank of India employee, the ordeal was lived first-hand - not as a spectator, but as someone who had unknowingly been moving along the same paths the terrorists had taken minutes earlier.

Sixteen years later, he recounts his experience to us, now brought back vividly after watching Dhurandhar, Aditya Dhar's latest cinematic retelling of the attacks. What follows is his story - one that sits at the intersection of chance, proximity, and the terrifying fragility of everyday routine.

At that t...