A day before the second anniversary of 26/11, Leopold Café is bustling as usual. There is nothing new in that, after all, this is the place that was back on its feet and serving customers less than a week after the attacks, like it has been doing for the last 100 years.There are more Indians on this day than the usual throng of foreigners, but that seems more a coincidence. Of course, the curiosity over the bullet holes on the glass front of the café, on the walls and the ceilings remains unabated. From the regulars to the first-timers, everybody keeps pointing out the bullet marks and taking pictures on their cell phones, perhaps to share with others. It is the same morbid form of tourism that brings people to the sight of the concentrations camps in Germany and Poland, to Ground Zero in New York and now to Leopold Café in Mumbai.
The backpackers’ hub was first put on the global map by Gregory David Roberts in his runaway bestseller Shantaram. Britishers Norman and Stephanie Baker, who are in India for their honeymoon, say their romance with Leopold started after reading the book.
“It’s great to be here. We were transfixed by the images on TV during the attacks. But this café is a symbol of the resilience of the city, the people, the country,” Stephanie says.
Norman, who works as an accountant in London says: “If this had happened in the US or UK, the building would probably have been knocked down and made way for something else. In the West, there is an obsession with memorials or shrines to tragedies. But here in India, you’ve carried on and come back from it stronger.” They both think that keeping the bullet holes intact is a good way of making a point, and “keeping it real.”
The management at the café seems to have toned down from last year, when they were in the eye of a storm over the issue of special commemorative mugs with bullet marks on them. This year, the management is keeping it quiet, and sticking to what they have do best, serve customers.
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