Rochelle Rao, former Miss India and TV presenter, who was on a vacation in Dubai with actor-husband Keith Sequeira and two-and-a-half-year-old daughter Josephine, landed in Mumbai on March 4 in an evacuation flight. In an exclusive interaction with mid-day, Rochelle recounts her stay in the UAE amid the ongoing Iran-Israel war. 

Vacation amid missiles 

Rochelle feels lucky to have entered Dubai a day before chaos ensued. She had booked her stay for a week in Al Barsha. On the first day of their holiday, Rochelle stepped out to walk down the Marina and saw a missile being detonated overhead. She recalls, “We were confused because we didn’t know whether it was really it since we had just heard about the conflict. We could hear loud booms and see clouds of smoke and shrapnel from the missiles falling. It was very nerve-wracking and scary.”