Actress Konkona Sen Sharma (top) and actors Boman Irani, Kabir Bedi and Lara Datta at the 26/11 fundraiser in London. (Suki Dusanj/ Newz Events)

London, Nov. 27: Actor Kabir Bedi found a “bit of Bombay in London” at a glittering fundraising dinner held last night at Kensington Palace which was offered as the surprise venue by the Queen’s cousin, Prince Michael of Kent.

“When he heard what we wanted to do,” explained Deepak Kuntawala, a 37-year-old British Indian financier who escaped with his life from the Sea Lounge at the Taj, though his 69-year-old father Vinay fell badly while escaping and is now permanently disabled, “he said he wanted to help because he had his honeymoon at the Taj.”

Deepak has now started a charity, the DVK Foundation, to help victims of 26/11 and last night raised more than £250,000 after all costs were cleared.

“If we get out alive after all this,” he had promised himself in his darkest moment when he was trapped in the Taj — later he took charge and helped 150 people to escape — “we had better make our lives meaningful. After this, we had better make a real difference.”

Last night’s charity dinner, which was compered by Kabir Bedi and his daughter Pooja heard Shekhar Kapur, at his most emotional, read a poem, Goodbye My Love.

Among those moved by the poem were a clutch of film folk, including Lara Dutta, Konkona Sen Sharma, Arshad Warsi, Sanjay Gupta and Boman Irani (who conducted last night’s auction).

“Do you know me, young man?” the poem went in part, “as you avert your eyes,/ so casually looking for your next target/did you think of me?”

Some of the money will go towards repairing the free kitchens at the Jewish centre in Nariman House, “where poor people are fed irrespective of caste, creed or religion”, Deepak said.

Rabbi Bentzi Sudak remembered the Jewish lives lost in Nariman House (also known as Chabad House), whose residents were slaughtered as commandos were seen dropping on the building live on television.

In a curious way, the killing of Jews had put Israel’s small and highly effective military machine in support of India, even though New Delhi has long been a supporter of the Palestinian cause.

The rabbi said: “In the midst of the terror in Mumbai a year ago, the world witnessed the stark contrast between good and evil, live and in real time.

“At 9.45 pm on 26th November, the terrorists attacked the Chabad House. Over the next 60 hours, they brutally tortured and murdered six, including Gabriel and Rivka Holtzberg.

“On Thursday morning of the siege, Sandra Samuel, an Indian lady who worked with the Holtzbergs was hiding in the basement, and she heard the cries of young Moshe (their son). Heroically she left her hiding place, ran upstairs where the terrorists were located and picked up Moshe who was crying next to his parents’ unconscious bodies.

“Then, on live TV we watched how she miraculously left the building together with Moshe. The sight of Moshe’s clothes stained with is parents’ blood will remain a scar in our collective minds forever.”

In future, India, should it ever need to, can expect Mossad, the deadly Israeli revenge machine, to swing in its favour. It is probably working even now to “take out” those in Pakistan who were responsible.

Kabir Bedi told The Telegraph today that he felt closer to his Pakistani friends in Lahore than people he knew in any other foreign country — “same culture, same food, same tameez”.

However, “what happened has left a deep psychological wound”.

But if any atrocity such as 26/11 were to be repeated — and Kabir feared it almost certainly would — “the response next time should be immediate and overwhelming”.