123Pune.com

The 25-year-old Wellington public servant had long planned a six-week holiday to visit his brother in India and not even terrorist attacks were going to stop him.

After following news of the attacks all day yesterday, Mr Ambikar was set to board a plane to Singapore this morning before landing in Mumbai about 8pm (NZ time).

"Maybe I'm a little bit nervous," he said in Wellington before packing, "but I'm not the kind of guy who changes his life plans because of incidents like these."

After landing in Mumbai, he plans to drive 90 minutes to the nearby city of Pune, where he spent part of his childhood and where his brother now works in IT.

Mr Ambikar, a New Zealand citizen who arrived here 10 years ago, said he had first thought little of the headlines because bombings were not unusual in India. But as more details filtered out, he was struck by the size and toll.

"It's the largest attack I've ever felt, personally. Maybe the largest in Bombay. It's the extent of it: the Taj hotel is a big landmark, Bombay's the financial capital."

He had held off calling his brother because the attack happened late at night, but thought he would be safe because of Pune's distance from Mumbai. However, he had many friends working in Mumbai and hoped they had been nowhere near the violence.
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