Pune tragedy: Too young to die

Breaking the long lull after 26/11, a blast ripped through Pune's popular German bakery on February 13, cutting short many young and promising lives. The bakery, located opposite the Jews' Chhabad House, and very close to the Osho Commune, was reduced to a shell of charred bricks.

11 young lives were lost on the evening of February 13. Many of them still in college, some just out of it, others just taking their first steps into the corporate world. All killed in their prime.(AFP photo)

At the tables of German Bakery, were migrant waiters, friends and acquaintances, brothers and sisters, foreign students and seekers. In a flash, 15 of them no more as the blast left yet another trail of loss and destruction. Apart from mourning the victims, the Netizens were vocal in expressing their rage against the government's lack of ability to bring the guilty to justice. Through this photofeature, we bring you some of the surfer comments on NDTV.com

SurferSpeak:

Indira - Their lives are nipped in the bud. Where is the safety and security for people? The Govt is helpless. For a few days or months it won't talk to Pakistan. And then again it will resume talks. What is this hide and seek?

Twenty-three years old Vikas Tulsiani, who was badly burnt, succumbed to his injuries on Sunday morning.

Vikas had completed his engineering in telecommunications from Pune's DY Patil engineering college just last year.

Vikas was preparing for the GRE exam as he wanted to go abroad for his studies.

Since he stayed very close to the bakery he used to frequent the place for his favourite sandwiches and coffee.

Rajeev Agarwal, a final year student of Pune's Symbiosis College, was with his five friends at the German bakery at the time of blast.

Rajeev was burnt badly and doctors even had to amputate a leg in their attempt to save him. Rajeev died on Sunday morning.

The son of a lawyer from Kolkata, Rajeev was in Pune for the past five years.A brilliant student, he had initiated the law school's legal aid cell.

He had also cleared his company secretary examination and wanted to pursue a career in corporate law.

For the Dhar family from Kolkata, this has been the most difficult journey of their lives. In just a matter of seconds, the lives of their little ones snubbed out, a son and a daughter who they lovingly called Octo and Ankhi.

19-year-old Anindyee was a first year BA student at the Fergusson College in Pune, and her brother, Ankik, had just earned himself a job with Morgan and Stanley in Mumbai after passing out from IIT Kharagpur.

Ankik would often come down to Pune to meet his sister over the weekends. But this Saturday was different...

SurferSpeak:

Pattni - May god give this family & friends strength to pass through this terrible tragedy and may the souls of the delightful brother & sister rest in peace. In life & in death truly brother & sister.

Tremors of the Pune blast reached Lucknow as news of the death of 24 year old Abhishek Saxena was broken to his family. Pursuing his final year at DY Patil College of Engineering (DYPCE) in Pune, Abhishek was critically wounded in the February 13 blast at the German Bakery which he was visiting along with some friends.

Abhishek was the only hope of his mother Nidhi Saxena, who she had painstakingly groomed to be an engineer. Passionate about cars, in his last conversation with his childhood buddy, Abhishek mentioned how he wanted to be a testing engineer for cars.

SurferSpeak:

Sherjung Dhillon - It seems that terrorist attack has become a routine state of affairs with only difference that it provides fodder to political parties in one form or another and we as ordinary individuals forget everything when breaking news shifts form front page to seventh page, indeed very deplorable state that one of the most captivating and most pacific city has been targeted.

When he was 21, Abhishek Saxena left his hometown of Lucknow to follow his dreams. He enrolled as a Mechanical Engineering Student at DY Patil College in Pune.

Abhishek had gone to the German Bakery with some friends on February 13. The 10th person to die in the terror attack that claimed 11 lives, most of them young students and professionals.

On Abhishek's Facebook page, the condolences pour in. His friends say at some point, they will print these out for Abhishek's mother.

A change of plan led Binita Gadani, 22, of Mumbai to her death at the German Bakery in Pune. The IT professional had initially planned to spend the weekend with her family to celebrate her elder sister's engagement, but instead opted to party with her friends in Pune ahead of Valentine's Day.

Gadani was barely 12 feet from the German Bakery when the blast took place.

SurferSpeak:

Dipankar Mukherjee - Such a sad and tragic loss... And so much pain for the family. My prayers are with them!

Shock, disbelief and grief gripped the Goenka family as news of their daughter Shilpa dying in the Pune attack was broken to them. The 23-year-old's parents said they knew Shilpa, who was working in Mumbai, had gone to Pune over the weekend for a break, but couldn't believe that she would ‘never come back'.

Shilpa was with two of her friends in the hugely popular German Bakery when the attack took place.

SurferSpeak:

Shahnawaz Khan - YES!! It is a great and the biggest loss for the parents and friends. May God give them courage to bear it. Time is great healer and may her soul rest in peace.

For nearly 18 hours, a group of students ran from one hospital to another, looking for their friend Sayed Abdul Ghani who had gone missing after the German Bakery blast on Saturday. They finally found him on Sunday, at the Sassoon Hospital morgue.

Sayed Abdul Ghani(26), who was learning English at Symbiosis College, was staying in a rented flat a few blocks away from the German Bakery where he had gone for a cup of coffee.

SurferSpeak:

Roopashri: It is very sad that young innocent people have to die in the Pune blasts. Mr. Chidambaram can defend his home ministry and Maharashtra government with clever arguments but I think it is a sorry state of affairs.

Outside the Sassoon hospital, a bunch of Nepali boys sat with expressions of absolute disbelief and shock as they mourned the death of Gokul Nepali, a waiter at the German Bakery.

22-year-old Gokul was serving at the tables when terror struck the German Bakery. He died instantly. His friends and colleagues, Rabi and Prakash had no way of knowing. All night, they went from one hospital to the other looking for Gokul.

A Dutch couple (seen in this picture) who was good friends with Gokul searched for him frantically at a hospital hours after the attack.

SurferSpeak:

Anusha D'Souza - This cowardly act has just led to the demise of none other than the young. The intention was not to harm the foreign national but to build fear in the hearts of many Indian students who wish to spend quality time with friends. The city once known as the 'Oxford of the East' shall no longer be the same again. My deepest prayers go out to every Puneite and those young students who lost their lives.(NDTV photo)

For 4 days, 21 year old Aditya Mehta from Delhi fought deep burns and injuries before he breathed his last. Aditya, a student of Electronics Engineering in Pune's Bharati Vidyapeeth, was visiting the German Bakery along with his girlfriend on February 13.

SurferSpeak:

Dhananjay - SRK gets security for his film and the common man gets terror. What an irony?

For foreigners, who not only visit but also live in the Koregaon Park area in large numbers, the blast at German Bakery was just too shocking. Many of them however remain defiant. Zoanne, a foreigner visiting the area, said, “Nothing can stop me from coming here. I will again come back to the city.”

SurferSpeak:

Raveesh Sharma - "The German Bakery was a favorite meeting place where we used to hang out with friends." "We'll go back if it opens again."(AFP photo)

There were many more young lives lost in the Pune blast. Friends and families left distraught. A tale of indescribable pain unfolding in hospitals where survivors recount the horror. Pune residents seen here holding a peace rally in their city on February 14 in protest against the terror attack.

SurferSpeak:

Shashi - Such an attack was just waiting to happen. The Maharashtra State Govt is totally responsible for this mess by their sense of perverted priorities. Mumbai and Maharashtra has been exposed as a sitting duck to terror attacks by diverting security for the cinema theatres for SRK film. Security for a film release is considered paramount compared to even national security. What a sham and what a shame!(AFP photo)

College students in Pune started The German Bakery Peace Foundation on Facebook. Through this group they condemn the attack on German Bakery & pay their tributes to those who lost their lives.

All college students united through Facebook and Orkut to raise money to help those injured in the blast and to donate towards the rebuilding of Germany Bakery.