Time to move on, says Leopold Cafe owner
The popular restaurant and bar on Colaba Causeway in south Mumbai was one of the first sites to be targeted during the 26/11 terror attacks in 2008. Ten years later, owners of the iconic Leopold Cafe, a symbol of the city's resilience and cosmopolitan ways, feel it is time to move on from the grim reminders of the attacks. The proprietors and many patrons feel the restaurant was a star attraction in its own right, much before it earned the attention from the book Shantaram, and the 26/11 attacks which left eight persons including two staff members dead.
“Enough has been spoken and written about the 26/11 attacks. It is now the tenth year since the attacks and it is time to put it all behind our backs. There’s nothing to say any more,” says Farhang Jehani.
At around 9.30 pm on that terrible Wednesday, the restaurant was attacked with gunfire and grenades by two men later identified as members of the terror group LeT.
“A cricket match between India and England was on that night. Two of my friends and I were waiting for our second round of golden fried prawns when I saw the man on the table next to me sway a bit, as if he was going to fall,” said Sourav Mishra, a former journalist.
“Before I knew what was happening, I felt something hit me near my shoulder. There was gunfire from all directions all of a sudden and the next two minutes were a blur,” he said.
The next thing Mishra remembers is seeing a lot of blood everywhere. “People crouching under the tables, some lying flat on the ground, and I realised I was walking towards a door. That was a foolish thing to do because the restaurant had just two doors
and the terrorists were firing from outside of one of those doors,” Mishra said. He managed to step out onto the busy Colaba Causeway lane which flanked on either side by hawkers selling clothes, jewellery and curios.
A hawker, Kishore, whose stall was outside Leopold, spotted Mishra, who was covered in blood by then, and rushed him to the nearby hospital. Leopold lost six customers and two waiters, Peer Pasha and Hidayat Kazi, in the terror attack. Pasha’s brother was also a waiter at Leopold and was present there that night. He returned to work a month later.
“That is Mumbai for you. Most of our staff came back to work the next day. Many customers came back after a few days. There was a European couple who visited the restaurant each Nov for several years after the attack. They were present on that night and each time they returned, they would tell Farhang that they had come back to finish that beer.