Foreigners’ haunt turned into ‘soft target’

Targeted in the Pune blast on Saturday, the German Bakery, now reduced to rubble, has been a major landmark in the city’s posh Koregaon Park area, a mere five-minute walk from the Osho Ashram and a favourite haunt for foreigners.

Targeted in the Pune blast on Saturday, the German Bakery, now reduced to rubble, has been a major landmark in the city’s posh Koregaon Park area, a mere five-minute walk from the Osho Ashram and a favourite haunt for foreigners.

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A small place, situated on the busy North Main road in the Camp area, and built with lots of wood and bamboo, it was started by a German, Woody Gazet, but is now owned by a Maharashtrian family, the Kharoses.

It is known for its breakfast items, evening snacks, sandwiches, fifteen types of tea, brown bread, cakes and other items, and has for years been like second home to foreigners – those who have come to stay at the Osho Ashram nearby, those who visit the Chabad House and those who have come to settle in the posh neighbourhood.

Because of its mix of Indian and continental foodstuff, it has also been a favourite for young Puneites in the last two decades.

The place was now being run by Dnyaneshwar’s brother.

The bakery was in the past raided by Pune police as it was suspected that youngsters exchanged banned substances there, but that did not affect its popularity among the elite.

However, its proximity to the “hard targets” — Osho Commune and Chabad House – apparently made it a “soft target,” shattering it to pieces in Saturday’s blast triggered by a “backpack” left under a table during the evening rush.