Mass. residents with ties to India anxiously await word

Seek to offer aid to victims, visit the region

Schoolchildren in Ahmadabad, India, paid tribute yesterday to the victims of the terrorist attacks. At least 125 people were killed and more than 325 were injured. (Ajit Solanki/Associated Press)

Massachusetts residents with roots in India were frantically calling Mumbai yesterday, checking on the safety of relatives and the stability of a city that was roiled by a set of highly orchestrated terrorist attacks.

"Luckily, everybody's safe except one: my cousin. I'm trying to reach him. I don't find him very easily," said Mohan Dali, vice president of the India Association of Greater Boston, who lives in Chestnut Hill. "That is my only fear."

Gunmen staged attacks on hospitals, hotels, a train station, and other locales, killing at least 125, injuring more than 325, and unnerving people worldwide. Several Massachusetts residents alluded to the repeat recurrence of attacks in India as a disturbing trend.

"People in Mumbai are, of course, quite rattled," said Vanita Shastri of Lexington, who is executive director of TiE-Boston, a nonprofit for entrepreneurs with ties to India.

"This is becoming more frequent, so it's not just one random event, but the recurrence of it and the fact that it's happening in a very organized way. . . . There's just a feeling that you're not safe anymore anywhere and that this is not an isolated event. All these aspects, I think, make it much more difficult to cope."

Local groups were considering how to help.

"Money is not the issue just now. It's how we can help them emotionally," said Rashmi Sheel of Amherst, who works with The Art of Living Foundation, an organization that provides physical and trauma relief after natural disasters and in regions of conflict. The group is considering helping those in Mumbai with trauma relief and, locally, staging a vigil.

Others with families in India were weighing travel plans, based on the uncertain situation in Mumbai, as the State Department advised Americans not to travel to the region in the coming days.

Neal and Janhavi Wadhwani planned to fly to Mumbai last night to stay with relatives then embark on preparations for an elaborate family wedding in Bangalore. A friend close to south Mumbai warned them away.

"They flat-out told me: 'If you can change your dates, now is not a good time to come,' " said Neal Wadhwani.

The Newton couple postponed the Thanksgiving night flight to Saturday and rerouted it to Bangalore.

"I feel much better that I've rerouted my flight, but definitely the concerns are there," said Wadhwani, 36. "Who's to say that Bangalore's not going to be the next target?"

His wife, Janhavi, 35, was less nervous. She is from Mumbai, previously called Bombay, and has seen attacks before. Her mother, who lives about 20 minutes outside the city, was fine.

"Bombay is pretty good at pulling things back together again," she said. "Whenever calamities happen, people really go out of their way and pull themselves together and support one another. I spoke to my mom, and she said in the suburbs things seem completely normal."

The news hit close to home for Piyusha Shirname, 30, of Somerville, who discovered through Facebook that someone she knew from school was killed in the kitchen in the Taj Mahal Palace and Tower hotel. Still, she was about to board a flight to Mumbai last night, refusing to change plans she made four months earlier.

"You just feel like anything could happen anywhere. You feel so insecure about everything," said Shirname. "But I think I'll just be more at peace since I'm going. I'll be there with my family and around the people I love."

Across America yesterday, those with connections to Mumbai were frantically trying to reach loved ones and colleagues, making worried phone calls and sending e-mails to scores of friends and family.

Angela Mulchandami was relieved to see her mother made it aboard a flight from Mumbai early yesterday.

"It's hard not knowing how all of your loved ones are, especially when you are seeing it on TV," Mulchandami, 25, said as she waited at an Atlanta airport. "I didn't know if she had made the flight."

At least two American women were among the injured. Andi Varagon of Nashville called her mother, Celeste, from a hospital yesterday and said she had been shot in the arm and leg while eating dinner at the Taj Mahal hotel.

Another Tennessee woman traveling with her was also injured, but her name was not immediately available, Celeste Varagon said.

State Department spokesman Robert McInturff said yesterday that at least three Americans were injured in the attacks, but said he could not identify them.

The State Department urged Americans not to travel to Mumbai for at least 48 hours, as US officials checked with Indian authorities and hospitals to learn more about the extent of the casualties.

In addition to urging Americans to stay away from Mumbai, the State Department issued a travel alert for all of India through Dec. 31.

Material from the Associated Press was included in this report. Stephanie Ebbert can be reached at ebbert@globe.com.