Pune Students Recall Their Visits to German Bakery

Students of Pune’s Bharati Vidyapeeth (Masters in Social Work) say life is uncertain.

Plus: Mourning a Nepali waiter who died in the blast

It was during the New Year eve; I had visited that place and had interacted with the cashier of the German bakery. When I came to know about the blast in the same place, I was really shocked. Suddenly, I went to watch the news channels. The place shown in the T.V. was really terrifying and disheartening. May god give strength to the family and their relatives of those who lost their life and got injured. May their soul be rested in peace in heaven. by Pratiksha Shrestha

It is rightly said that future is uncertain, so we should make the best of our presence. I am saying so, because today staying in the city of Pune where bomb blast took place and witnessing all the chaos feels really terrifying. Today I recalled that day when I and my friends visited German bakery on the new year eve to celebrate and today the same place has been destroyed and many innocents have victimized, but, I would just pray to god almighty to save the people and give strength to those people who have lost their near and dear ones and may the soul rest in peace who are no more amongst us. by Fatima Sayed

I am deeply shock with what happen in German bakery. I along with my friends used to visit that place once in a while. I am doing my research project on Nepali people and I was to go there for my data collection, but unfortunately, this happened. Our life is so uncertain. Anything can happen to us at any instant. So, at this hour of distress, I would like to express my heartfelt condolence to the family who have lost their dear ones and speedy recovery to those who are injured. May the departed soul rest in peace. by Abani Dhewajoo

‘Full of life, Gokul wanted to return home to Nepal’

By Anuradha Mascarenhas in the Indian Express
It was only a day before the bomb blast that 57-year-old Shunyam van Steveninck, a Dutch painter, had met her friend Gokul Nepali (Padewa), a waiter at German Bakery. Gokul had given her his address in Bagmati zone of Nepal and wished her a good life. That was the last time they met. The 19-year-old was among those killed in the blast; the bomb went off as he touched the unclaimed bag lying below a table at the eatery.

Shunyam, who has been visiting Osho International Meditation Centre for the past 26 years and been a regular at the eatery, says, “I’ve made several friends here and no terror attack will ever make me bid adieu to my second home.”

She visited the morgue to pay her last respect to Gokul. “My husband Vigyano and I were trying to locate Gokul at three to four hospitals on Sunday only to discover that his body is now lying in the morgue. No one has claimed it so far and I hope the police get in touch with his family in Nepal,” says Shunyam.

Shunyam also visited Shrikrishna Thapa and Paras Rimal, Nepali waiters at the bakery, admitted in a city hospital with injuries. Thapa, who has completed 10 years at the bakery, remembers Gokul as a hardworking boy. “Yes he is married and wanted to go back to Nepal. But his family is very poor,” says Thapa.

Shunyam reiterates, “I just met him a day before the bomb blast at the bakery where he works and he was so full of life and waiting to go back to Nepal to meet his wife.”

“He shook our hands and wished my husband and me a good life. He even gave me the address of his native place in Nepal and told me to visit his wife,” she says. “I cannot believe Gokul is dead.”

She now plans to meet his other Nepali friends who stay near ABC farms at Koregaon Park so that they can inform his wife.

Related link:

1. When India suffers, Nepalis share the pain: Blast at German Bakery, Pune