No one can forget that dreadful night on 26-11-2008, when 10 militants took a boat to Mumbai and launched series of attacks on hotels, a railway station, a hospital and a Jewish community centre.
Of the 166 people killed, 19 were foreigners, including businessmen and tourists. 9 terrorists and 20 security personnel were also killed.
However, amidst these attacks, an Indian rescued 4 foreigners who got caught in the middle of the terror attacks. They were saved from a high alert area by Mehul Vora, a martial-art instructor from Mumbai. These foreigners were in India as a part of the Live Earth India Concert team and were trapped amidst the terror attack. Live Earth India Concert booked Mehul Vora, who owns a disaster-management firm in India, for its show in India.
Mehul Vora risked his own life and quickly brought them away from the high-alert area. But while trying to escape the four foreigners, Mehul Vora was detained at Marriot Hotel for having a gun and a grade-III Kevlar bullet-proof jacket. Later police released him after it was clarified that he was helping the foreigners to escape. Immediately, Vora took all the 4 foreigners to the airport for the first available flight to Europe.
Later, former Vice-President of the United States of America Al Gore, wrote a congratulatory message to Mehul Vora for rescuing and protecting those 4 American and British civilians on November 26, 2008.
Thank you so much for your exceptional service during the tragic terrorist attacks in Mumbai. You did a phenomenal job in protecting all the Live Earth India staff and I want to commend you for the effort. You certainly went beyond the call of duty and all of us are grateful to you for saving those lives- Al Gore, former Vice President, USA wrote to Mehul Vora
Soshihan Mehul Vora started his initial training at the early age of 3 years and was awarded first degree black belt in Japanese/Okinawa international Gojuryu at the age of 16 years. He was the youngest person to head an international Karate organization as its president and sole representative in the country. He has the honor of being a student of many senior international masters such as Dr. Jose Miguel Gallego 10th degree black belt, Shihan Hirano Osamu 8th degree black belt and Shihan Kazu Inoue 8th degree black belt.
Mr. Vora has traveled around the world for training and coaching purposes spreading the Gospel of martial arts. In 1998 he was awarded the best instructor of the year award by the Deputy Commissioner of Mumbai Police Dr. I.P.Kalpatri. Mehul Vora has choreographed several actors and actresses of Bollywood including Akshay Kumar, Sunny Deol, Cheeranjeevi, Harman Baweja, Bharat Dabholkar and Ashwini Kalsekar to name a few. He has significantly popularized Martial arts in South-East-Asia by choreographing and consulting for the mega series “Seven Deadly Arts” with Bollywood Superstar Akshay Kumar on National Geographic channel.
The Israeli system of military self defence Krav Maga recognizes Mr. Mehul Vora as its sole and foremost instructor and representative in India.
He is supporting Akshay Kumar and Aaditya Thackeray in their initiative for training self defense to women in Mumbai. He is also serving as the Technical Director of the Akshay Kumar Kudo Tournament.
Mehul Vora’s organization, called Travel Safety India (TSI) offers travel safety, for holidays, business trips and relocation with professional personal protection agents, security drivers and risk advisories.
This amazing guy who loves to write poetry and play guitar as a hobby, is very popular among people because of his attitude to help others in need and for his free self defense training.
Original article: http://achhikhabre.com/mehul-vora-martial-art-instructor-tsi-india/
By Harshita Nandwani| Sep 23, 2014