Leopold hums back to life

Like always, every day of the year and nearly every hour of the day, the cafe is packed to capacity. And humming.

Waiters in red T-shirts and black slacks tear around with trays laden with giant mugs of frothing, icy beer, fresh lime sodas and tall glasses of fresh fruit juice. Service is invariably prompt here.

Young Indian patrons -- some students and some office-wallahs -- tuck into giant plates of steaming Chinese noodles and chicken. Hippie-looking tourists stray in for a slow, long beer.

The non-stop, cheery buzz of conversation floats up to the ornate-pillared high ceilings above the black glass-topped tables with checked tablecloths and the fruit bar.

It is lunch hour at Leopold cafe in Colaba's tourist district, south Mumbai. The lively noise and bustle is nothing new for this cafe that always gets a huge lunch crowd of nearby office workers and loads of tourists with their guidebooks.

The Mumbai attacks began at about 9.30 right here in this popular restaurant last Wednesday evening, a stone's throw away from the Colaba police station and a few doors away from the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel. The gunmen dined here, paid their bill and then began spraying bullets. One table away from where I am sipping my Coke, folks eating dinner were chopped down by bullets.

Ten people were shot here. Two waiters, Pir Pasha and Hidayat Ullah, a bystander and seven tourists and diners died.

The cafe owners, the Jehanis, were keen to open the cafe as soon as possible and were hoping to do so on Sunday, to give the message that terrorism could and would not beat them.

Leopold, which opened in 1871 and became internationally famous in Gregory David Roberts's book Shantaram, is often the first stop on any tourist itinerary, especially for backpackers and travelers surviving on skimpy budgets. You can get a hearty meal here for just Rs 140.

Ever since I began frequenting Leopold's -- from the early 1980s while in college when it was a slightly seedy but always a happening, cheerful watering hole -- you could spy legions of African patrons tucking into the cafe's humongous portions of fried, mildly-spiced chicken with gusto. The chicken (and the chicks) was equally popular with its Arab clientele, in white robes and red-checked head gear.

Leo's, as it is fondly called by locals, has always been a great spot to watch people -- Indians and foreigners alike. A place to kick back, with a cheap beer. I remember once watching two American or perhaps European girls pluck a grubby beggar child off the street. They had the child in their laps and were happily feeding her large quantities of ice cream.

On Monday, it is the same mixed crowd of tourists and locals tucking into Leo's food, but there are many more than usual.

There is also fierce joviality in the air. Everyone is happy to be here today. To make a point. To show that terrorism will not scare them off.

Photographs are being shot. Huge hugs are exchanged between the owners and the diners. Tourists who probably were hanging out here before the shooting return with big smiles for the waiters.

Four or five employees form a human chain at the three entrance doors to prevent gawking onlookers, who are snapping shots with their cell phones, from spilling in. Television camera crews -- both Indian and foreign -- televise Leo's patrons having their first meal after the re-opening. The owners make a point to chat will all their guests and come on camera for a few minutes to express their solidarity with the people of Mumbai.

On the inside there is little to show of the murderous trail of Wednesday night apart from the bullet holes in the mirror. What is really on show is the we-will-not be-intimidated spirit of the diners, owners and waiters here today.

Says owner Farhang S Jehani, "I lost two of my boys. One right here (he points to a spot near my table) and one just outside in the lane (points to the side entrance). I was upstairs (in their pub) watching the match and that saved my life," he says quietly.

Maybe lightning doesn’t strike the same place twice, but I sure would hesitate to have a casual lunch there.....at least for a while.

I disagree, I would want to head there asap to show the terrorists that their plans for creating terror did not work. I spit intheir faces.

3 posted on 12/03/2008 3:30:32 AM PST by Cronos (Ceterum censeo, Mecca et Medina delenda est)

Cafe Leopold Bump.

If I was in Bombay, I’d be there.

Beer, Whisky, Gin, Vodka and so much variety of food for a relatively tiny joint.

Good for Bombayites; EFF the jihadis, good they’re patronising the place.

4 posted on 12/03/2008 11:55:45 AM PST by swarthyguy (*Bush Promised us Osama, instead we're getting Obama*)

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