In Memoriam

A year later,a friend recalls the tragic death of five of his friends at the German Bakery blast

“I knew five people who lost their lives that day.” These are the words of Amit Chaudhary,an IT professional,in reply to an email. His words are crisp and short,almost detached. “I always felt terror was something aloof,a far-off thing. But when it actually touches you,you realise it’s impact,” he says. Chaudhary,an alumni of BIT Ranchi and Bhartiya Vidya Bhavan,Kolkata,lost five friends on the day of the German Bakery blast a year ago. Today,working in Noida with an IT firm,Chaudhary feels that his life has been altered forever. “I grew up with these people around me. Shilpa and I were in the same school,we went on to join the same college studying IT together where Sindhuri was with us.” On that evening,Shilpa Goenka,who was working with Nomura,a software company with an office in Powai,Mumbai,had come to Pune for a weekend. She had met her friends,Ankik Dhar,who was working in Mumbai,Anindyee Dhar,his sister who was studying in Fergusson College,P Sindhuri,an executive at Amdocs Software at German Bakery. The five had spotted the suspicious bag and informed the waiter. They summoned a waiter,Gokul Nepali,and told them about the bag which seemed to belong to no one. As Gokul opened the bag,it exploded,instantly killing all at the table and the waiter. The blast was so massive that a part of the ceiling near the cash counter collapsed,said the newspaper reports.

Now,as reflections over the blast that shook the city start pouring in,Chaudhry feels lost. “I am reading about it everywhere and I still feel as helpless as before.” It was a call from one of his friends from Pune that had informed Amit about the blast. “It was chaotic that night. Calls were coming in from everywhere. People were not sure what had happened. When we heard that it had occurred in Pune,we grew concerned. We knew so many friends were there.”

Today the community ‘In Loving memory of Shilpa Goenka and P Sindhuri’ on Facebook lives on,with 774 members. “Sometimes we wonder,what good can marches and dedications do? The memory of these people need to be treasured,but unless concrete steps are taken,terror will continue to eat into our lives – striking people and places at unexpected times,” says Amit. “I remember Shilpa and her craze for Enrique and Sindhuri,the programming whiz. It’s difficult to understand the reason behind these actions,” says Chaudhary.