By IANS,
Pune: Boasting of some best known colleges and numerous educational institutes, Pune is often called the students’ capital of India. Saturday night’s blast in one of the popular youth hot spots, German Bakery, has left the student community shocked. But most say that the incident has failed to scare them.
Aakash Aggarwal, a student of the Symbiosis college told IANS: “The blast definitely came as a shock to us. But instead of sitting inside our rooms in fear, most students ventured out in the city this morning. Of course, the area around German Bakery was cordoned off so we didn’t go there”.
Sumit Jain, another student, added that while the level of alertness is definitely high after the blast, fear is not.
“We are more careful, more alert while moving around now. There is apprehension, but I wouldn’t say that we are very scared,” he said.
A popular eatery in Koregaon Park – an area buzzing with life thanks to numerous pubs, cafes and eateries – the German Bakery was a favourite with a lot of people, especially the city’s youngsters.
Not surprisingly, there were many who had plans to visit the bakery over the weekend, but could not for various reasons – thus missing the fateful incident by a whisker.
Shubhojit Das, a student of Fergusson College which is just two km away from the bakery said: “I usually go to German bakery every week. In fact my friends and I were planning to go there last night but changed our plan at the last moment.”
Poornima, an undergraduate student added: “I was walking past the bakery last evening, when I suddenly heard the loud blast that took me by a shock. I immediately took an auto and went back home”.
Underlining the popular sentiment, Harshad Lasure who works as a consultant with a private company said that people are more careful now, but not really scared.
“It’s not that people are scared, they are just more careful now. We never expected a bomb blast in Pune. I plan to go out with my friends in the evening but will be alert about any suspicious looking person or unclaimed baggage,” Lasure told IANS.
Nine people were killed – of whom six have been identified as Indians – and 57 injured in the Saturday night blast in Pune.