Kolkata: A 71-year-old retired banker from Bangladesh had a narrow escape from the Shikha Inn fire after the regular at the lodge opted to stay at another hotel during his latest Kolkata visit.Md Nurul Islam Khan, a resident of Shariatpur in Bangladesh, arrived in Kolkata on Tuesday. Khan visits India at least three times a year for shopping and medical treatment and nearly always stays at Shikha Inn. But this time, he wanted to check out a place that served better food and checked into another hotel.“I wanted to try a different hotel with better food this time and that saved me,” Khan said, while standing outside the fire ravaged building on Thursday and thanking his luck.He was asleep on Wednesday morning when his phone was switched to internet-off mode. On waking up, he found several missed calls from anxious family members in Bangladesh. They had assumed he was staying at Shikha Inn and feared he had been caught in the fire.“After I told them I was staying at a different hotel and was safe, they were relieved,” Khan said.
