A tilted notice board next to a hole made by a bullet on a Leopold wall. (PTI)

Mumbai, Nov. 30: Don Ilanthiraiyan doesn’t want to recall the gunshots he heard on Wednesday night — the memories trigger a chain of fear he says he would rather not confront at the moment.

“I am scared... very scared. It could just as easily have been us, and not Leopold, as the target,” said the manager of Café Mondegar, located barely 20 metres down the road from Leopold Café, one of the first targets of the terrorists who struck Mumbai.

The Taj Mahal Palace Hotel is less than a kilometre away.

Like Leopold, Mondegar is a popular pub frequented by foreign tourists.

But just three days after the firing at Leopold, Mondegar was today full to capacity, and Ilanthiraiyan had to ask guests to wait till seating could be arranged.

Couples snuggled next to each other, professionals surfed the Net on laptops and friends shared a jug of chilled beer in the November afternoon.

Ilanthiraiyan had kept the café closed the past two days, “as a mark of respect”.

A crowded Café Mondegar after it reopened on Sunday. Picture by Charu Sudan Kasturi

“It took two days, more than ever before after a terror attack, but Mumbai is getting back on its feet,” said Raj Thevar, a college student sitting in the pub.

His words carried conviction, but not enough, he admitted, for him to inform his mother of his decision to visit a pub next to one of the spots that witnessed terror first-hand.

Ilanthiraiyan plans to prevent any customers with heavy rucksacks or big bags from entering Café Mondegar, but said he “cannot introduce a metal detector or bring in gun-toting securitymen”.

“People come here to enjoy, and I cannot afford to scare them away. See, just six hours after the attack, people are back here,” he said.

Taxi driver Shankar Hegde said he could not help looking under the seats each time a passenger left his vehicle. Fear of explosions similar to those in two taxis on November 26 gnaws at him.

“I was working even through the gun battles between the terrorists and security forces. For the past two days, there have hardly been any customers,” Hegde said. “But today, Mumbai has begun to crawl back to her feet.”

At the Taj, holiday crowds gather to sneak a peek at the iconic hotel that was under siege a day back.

“I brought my family to see the Gateway of India. You won’t let us go there. At least let my children see the Taj clearly,” a man, with two children in tow, argued with security officials blocking any one from stepping into 200 metres from the Taj.

Till yesterday, most of the “terror tourists” comprised local residents, especially those who live nearby in Colaba.

And Mumbai’s lifeline — the suburban train system — was pulsating again.

“Even though today is a Sunday, we have had more people buying tickets than in the past two days combined,” said R. Seetha, a ticket attendant at the Churchgate railway station.

CHILLING FACTS EMERGE FROM THE ASHES

The brutality

• On Wednesday night, a married couple in their 70s went to third-floor window after hearing gunfire. Shot by attackers
• At Nariman House on Wednesday, passers-by who mistook initial shots for firecrackers in celebration of India’s imminent cricket victory over England greeted by spray of bullets from two attackers. 22-year-old call centre worker killed
• Tailor locking store near Taj on Wednesday night spotted by gunman and killed
• At Taj, gunmen searching room-to-room pick and choose occupants to shoot at point-blank range. Some shot in the back, Gestapo style
• At Oberoi, one gunman chased diners up stairwell and at one point turned around and shot dead an elderly man standing behind him
• At Oberoi on Wednesday,Yes Bank chairman Ashok Kapur and wife pursued by gunman up a staircase. She managed to escape; but he was shot, once in the chest, once on the hand

The myths

• What was believed: Gunmen held hostages right through
  What’s emerging: Gunmen killed victims early on and left the bodies, to fool security forces into thinking they still had hostages
• What was believed: Westerners were main targets
  What’s emerging: They killed whomever they could. Of the 172 dead, 21 are confirmed foreigners
• What was believed: Attackers singled out only holders of American and British passports
  What’s emerging: Not only US and British citizens, range of nationalities among foreigners killed. 6 Americans confirmed dead and 1 Briton
• What was believed: Gunmen meant to blow up Taj
  What’s emerging: NSG chief says they didn't have enough explosives for that

The home truths

• Commandos slowed by old, bulky bulletproof jackets and had no technology to determine where firepower was coming from
• Sharpshooters had neither protective gear, nor high-powered telescopes western agencies use during standoff with terrorists
• Gunmen firing from so many different parts of hotel that security forces did not know where to strike without inflicting civilian casualties
• On Saturday afternoon, a sharpshooter who spent over 60 hours perched outside Taj said neither he nor his partner had fired a shot because they were not sure how to distinguish gunmen from trapped civilians