A N.Y. professor who grew up in India found himself in the surreal position of talking by phone to the terrorists holed up at the Chabad House in Mumbai. He recounts the details in a Forward essay. He had heard about the attacks and:
Then my nephew called. He told me that the Chabad-Lubavitch movement was looking for Indian language speakers to help them keep track of developing news after terrorists took over the Chabad house in Mumbai. This was the beginning of a nearly 17-hour ordeal that soon had me in prolonged negotiations with the terrorists holed up in the Jewish center, moving toward a deathly denouement.
The Associated Press tells his story as well.
