Any time is peak time at Gokul Chaat Shop at Kothi in Hyderabad. But evenings at the popular eatery, which has been in business since 1973, are even more crowded. No wonder it was a target of terrorists.
On August 25, 2007, a bomb went off at the shop and killed 32 people. “I was at home getting ready to leave for the shop when I heard the blast. I stepped out of the house to see what had happened. Some people were running and saying there was a cylinder blast at the Gokul Chaat Shop; so I rushed to the shop,” said Premchand Vijayvergya, one of the brothers who run the shop. They lived right behind the shop.
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As he walked in, Premchand realised the cylinders were intact, but the shop had become a pool of blood. His brother Gulabchand’s son Puneet was operating an ice cream machine at the shop when the blast occurred. The machine blew up on Puneet’s face, and the the mobile phone in his hand also blew up in the impact. He had to undergo five surgeries and still has two metal pieces in his body.
The brothers reopened the shop at the same place after the investigations were over, but only after installing a grill, a metal detector, security cameras and five guards. Cops still visit the shop twice a day. “They will come in, check inside, sometimes with sniffer dogs,” said Lalchand, Premchand’s brother.
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The brothers opened a branch in Narayanguda but they had to shut it down because of the metro work. Then they opened a branch in Abids. They have not, however, moved on from the shock of the blast nine years ago. “We burst crackers for Diwali because the children want us to,”
said Premchand. “But loud noises still bother us.”
The shop was started by their father. “Our elder brother Mukund Das still cooks,” said Lalchand. “He makes the dishes and we taste them.” Puneet still sits at the entrance of the shop, just as he did on that fateful day, and hands out kulfis to customers. But he would not speak a word, even as the din continues.
