Journalism of Courage
While patrons enjoyed their meal amidst much laughter and merriment at the German Bakery in Koregaon Park on Saturday, they were blissfully unaware of the significance of the date on which they decided to visit the restaurant. Six years have passed since February 13, 2010, the day when a bomb blast ripped apart German Bakery, or GB as it is popularly known, and changed it forever.
“Is it the sixth anniversary of the blast here? I would never have known. There are absolutely no signs here. I think it’s better this way,” said Seema Charak, a young professional.
The new management of the restaurant, which took over a few years ago, has taken the sentiments of its customers to heart. Instead of holding on to the traumatic memories of the past, they are building new memories and new restaurants. The third German Bakery comes up in Lonavala on February 14. “We chose it because it’s the Day of Love and also signifies a fresh start after what happened at the bakery just a day prior, many years ago. In fact, we are hoping that every year on this day, we open a new German Bakery,” said Kunal Udane, partner and co-owner, GB.
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At the time of the blast, there was just one GB. The second one came up last year at Law College while the third one opens on Sunday.
While there is no palpable tension in the air or nervousness about the blast anniversary on Saturday, the tell-tale signs that something had happened here are visible. “I think how we have changed is how we view security. We don’t take any of the police instructions lightly. Unlike any other restaurant, entering GB is like coming into a safe zone.
We have metal-door frame detectors, scores of high-definition CCTV cameras. We store the recordings for months. We have security guards and scan every bag brought inside. In fact, we follow the same protocol at all the GBs, even the new ones that came up after the blast,” said Udane.
However, in this bid to put the negativity behind and move forward, a lot has been lost in the process. The bakery’s former owner and now landlord Snehal Kharose, who handed over the reins of the management to Udane, says it is not a shadow of its past. “I have been born and brought up in this area. I used to know all the regulars by name.
They knew me and even today I pass many of them during walks here. Somehow, after the GB was rebuilt about three-and-a-half years after the blast, the old clientele stopped coming. Earlier, there used to be a majority of foreigners here. People from the Osho Commune and a community of ‘regulars’ considered GB as their hang-out place. Now, we see a lot of Indian crowd here but I don’t see the regulars,” she says.
Ask her which version of the GB does she prefer and prompt comes her reply, “Definitely the earlier one. This one is much better commercially. It has a young, peppy look and feel and is far better in terms of security. But the old-world feel and comfort in the earlier one is what I miss. It could also be due to my emotional attachment with the earlier bakery,” said Kharose.
