A girl lights a candle in front of Leopold on Sunday. (AFP)

Mumbai, Nov. 30 (PTI): Leopold Café, where the first chapter of the Mumbai terror attacks unfolded, reopened today, only to be shut down temporarily because of “security reasons”.

“We had opened it in the afternoon to show them (terrorists) that we have won and not they. But the crowds had become unmanageable as everyone wanted to come in and have a look,” said Farzad Jehani, the owner of the café just behind the Taj.

Salim and his young son were the first customers to enter Leo, as the café is fondly known. “Come to Leo with hugs and smiles. Nothing to fear as the show must go on,” he said, raising a toast to the re-opening.

The imprints of Wednesday’s “minute-and-half” frenzy are deeply etched in Mumbai’s fun address.

Glass panes and walls riddled with bullet holes, splinter marks, a broken cash counter and a small crater on a wall made by a grenade.

Farzad’s brother Farhang was watching cricket on that fateful night.

“My brother and I were busy upstairs watching Dhoni play when we heard a blast,” he said.

“Initially, I thought it was someone trying to play a prank on the road. As I got up from my seat, I heard bullet shots and we ducked.”

Farzad added that the mayhem at Leopold lasted a minute and a half.