The day I wrote that blog post about Pune I ate breakfast at the German Bakery (one of the many meals I’ve had at that well-known tourist restaurant since I arrived in Pune 5 days ago).
I smiled at the cashier (sweet Indian man) and ordered a coffee and two small cookies.
I was plotting my escape from Pune.
Take a train to Goa or head back to Bali or ?
Anyway, I drank my coffee and ate my cookies and flipped through the India book to see what was next for me.
When I was finished I left the restaurant to move from my slum hotel accommodation from across the lane of the German Bakery to the much more expensive (but quieter) Guesthouse of the ashram.
In the late afternoon I walked past the German Bakery to get a train ticket from one of the many vendors on that street. Vendor after vendor was not able to sell me a train ticket for one reason or another.
Finally I found someone who could sell me a train ticket to Goa which would be leaving the next day.
All of this running around was making me much later than I thought which wouldn’t be a problem (I am on vacation after all!) but the ashram gate closes at 6:40pm until 9:00pm for the evening meditation. If the gate closed before I got there I would have to occupy myself outisde of the ashram walls until the gate reopened at 9pm.
As I was walking back to the ashram, I decided that if I didn’t make the gate I would go to the German Bakery for dinner and to try their world-renowned chocolate cake before leaving the next day for Goa.
I made the ashram gate with a couple of minutes to spare. I attended the evening meditation at the ashram and then went promptly to bed after having no sleep the night before in the slum hotel.
When I had breakfast the next morning at the ashram one of the people I sat next to at breakfast told me that a bomb had gone off at the German Bakery a little after 7pm the night before.
Had I not made the gate I would have been at the German Bakery when the bomb went off.
9 people were killed and 45 people were injured.
It’s been 24 hours since I heard the news and I’m still in shock.
I’ve noticed that the American news doesn’t seem to be covering this story much so if you want more information you can Google “Pune Bomb Blast”.
This morning I was recounting in my head my time at the German Bakery the morning of the bombing and I realized that I think I may have seen the unattended bag that the waiter ended up opening and that caused the blast.
There was a backpack on a chair at the table across from me and an empty plate but no one was next to the bag.
Who knows if that was the backpack that later caused the blast?
Not me.
What I do know is that I’m feeling incredibly lucky to be alive.
I’m staying in Pune for the time being. Much of India has a ‘red alert’ (meaning high danger warning for foreigners).
I’ve always felt safe in foreign countries but I have to admit I’m feeling a tad bit nervous about being in India right now.
So for now, I’ll stay put in the safety of the ashram. The Indian police (complete with big rifles) are on 24-hour watch in front of the ashram.
About Me: 
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Wow! Glad you are OK. It’s so cliche to talk about brushes with death, but you really had one. Will you contact the police and tell them what you saw?
OMG! Kristen. That sounds so scary. And a bummer. And I bet it feels lucky to be alive, at a level I can only imagine. Wow! Well I am so glad you are safe and so surprised to learn you are already in India. Are you on your way to/from Osho? Circling it?
I hope to go to India this June as my daughters have plans to go to Nepal and then I want to try to talk them into going to new Delhi and Goa with me. So if you make it I would love to hear what you think.
But Geeez.
God I am glad nothing happened to you.
LOL,
Jim
Hi Brian,
According to media accounts that I read after writing this last blog post the bag that exploded was UNDER a chair not on the chair. The backpack I saw was hanging on a chair so the one I saw most likely wasn’t the bag that exploded.
If everything matched up I would definitely have gone to the police.
Kristin
hi kristin, love your blog , graphics and ideas are fantastic, just to let you know the bag the bomb was in was a sort of overnight bag (blue and black) found under a table, not a backpack (there were photos in the newspaper and ive been reading everything), not sure if that makes you feel better
gary said he saw a crazy man painted white handing out political flyers on the day of bombing – he reported it via some website
happy travels lovely!