Mother of U.S. Woman Shot in Mumbai on Her Daughter's Escape

Monday, December 01, 2008

This is a rush transcript from "Hannity & Colmes," November 28, 2008. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

ALAN COLMES, CO-HOST: 25 people from the Synchronicity Foundation, a meditation group based in Virginia, were on a spiritual retreat in India when the terrorists opened fire, and Andy Varagona of Nashville is a member of the group and was shot in the leg, a bullet also grazed her neck.

Andy was sitting with the father and daughter from Virginia. They were also killed during the attack.

Joining us now on the phone from Oak Ridge, Tennessee is her mother Celeste Varagona.

Celeste, thank you very much for talking to us. Appreciate your time tonight, ma'am.

Video: Watch the 'H&C' interview

CELESTE VARAGONA, DAUGHTER WOUNDED IN MUMBAI TERROR ATTACK: OK.

COLMES: Can you tell us what Andy relayed to you about what happened to her?

VARAGONA: What she said was that she was having dinner in the lobby of the Taj Hotel in the restaurant when a gunman came in, and started shooting, and the two people from Virginia, they were right next to her, died. The man fell on her lap, and she was shot in the arm and also in the hip.

And she crawled under the table, and tried to crawl towards the kitchen and then hide behind a door, and then two more terrorists start throwing a grenade over there, so some people from the kitchen pick her up because that time she had lost a lot of blood, and she — of course, she was shot, in two different places, so they pick her up, and they brought her outside to a back door, and it's a miracle.

As soon as they were out, out of the back door, the whole kitchen exploded.

COLMES: Oh wow.

VARAGONA: And so they put her in a taxi cab and brought her to the hospital, so we are so grateful that she's still alive. I talked to her this afternoon, and she was still in pain, of course, and — in the intensive care, but her husband made it there, and so she was doing better.

Column Archive

Full-page Interview Archive

Video

Show Info

Airs Weekdays at 9 p.m. ET

COLMES: How is she doing now? We understand that she will be OK, and she is — she's going to be fine, right?

VARAGONA: I hope so. I hope so. Of course you know when you have a bull in the hip and have an operation there, of course, she cannot walk or anything, you know. She's still in intensive care, but we are praying that everything is going to be OK, and we pray that she can come home soon.

But she said 24 or 25 people, I'm not sure, though, from Synchronicity went all together. Seven were in the hospital, two, of course, died right at the table with her, and they don't have any idea where the others are, if they are hostages, if they were dead. They don't know anything about it.

COLMES: What was she doing there? What is the Synchronicity Foundation? What was she doing there?

VARAGONA: Andrina has a clinic in Nashville, Tennessee that do meditation, body alignment, acupuncture, all that, and Synchronicity is a place in Virginia where they teach how to do meditation just by listening to music instead of doing it just like they used to in the old days, and so they were there to learn how to do it even better and help people as much as they could.

SEAN HANNITY, CO-HOST: Celeste, thank you very much.

VARAGONA: You're welcome.

HANNITY: We appreciate you taking time to be with us tonight.

Watch "Hannity & Colmes" weeknights at 9 p.m. ET!

Content and Programming Copyright 2008 FOX News Network, Inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Transcription Copyright 2008 ASC LLC (www.ascllc.net), which takes sole responsibility for the accuracy of the transcription. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No license is granted to the user of this material except for the user's personal or internal use and, in such case, only one copy may be printed, nor shall user use any material for commercial purposes or in any fashion that may infringe upon FOX News Network, Inc.'s and Voxant Inc.'s copyrights or other proprietary rights or interests in the material. This is not a legal transcript for purposes of litigation.


See Interview Archive

ADVERTISEMENT

uASK|uREPORT

VIDEO

Hannity Blog Postings


  • Interns Perspective: Under Pressure: Recognizing the 'Power of the People'
    Following the passage of the health care bill in the House, President Obama was quick to urge the Senate to finish the job, and to finish it quickly -- before the end of the year to be exact. Further emphasizing the need to rush the legislative process, the president evoked images of a race in [...]

    read post
  • Intern's Perspective: Obama Falls Short of Really Teaching Responsibility
    As the first African-American president, Barack Obama has undoubtedly become a role model and a source of inspiration for many young people throughout the United States. He has risen up from hardship and achieved one of the most esteemed of titles that is granted to an individual in our nation.Obama is aware of his ability [...]

    read post
  • Steele: Voters Spoke on Obama Policies
    Republican leaders have quickly sought to cast their gubernatorial victories in New Jersey and Virginia as the beginning of a resurgence for their party and a sign of trouble for President Obama while the White House argues that the results are not about the president.Republican Party Chairman Michael Steele said Wednesday that [...]

    read post
facebook twitter myspace
ADVERTISEMENT

INTERVIEW