Anamika Gupta

‘My beauty parlour will have to wait for a while’

“I have four holes in my stomach. Who will marry me?” jokes 28-year-old Anamika Gupta. She was one of the first to be hit by terrorists at Leopold Cafe. “Jab maut likhi to mar jayenge, unke (terrorists) haat se nahi likhi hai meri maut,” says Anamika. But she can’'t forget that terrible night.

“Four of us had gone to Leopold’s for dinner. As soon as we had placed our order, we heard gunshots. Initially we thought it was some gang war but later realised that they were targeting us. One of the terrorists trained his gun on me and fired four bullets. As soon as his cartridge got over, we ran past him,” remembers Gupta, a beautician who lives in Colaba. She walked for over two hours that day, asking for help until a social worker brought her to St George Hospital, from where she was shifted to JJ Hospital.

Her operation was successful but doctors have asked Gupta to rest for another eight months. Gupta is upset that she missed her brother’s wedding in Varanasi a week ago. “I lost my father when I was a child. My brother raised me. I should have been there at his wedding,” she says.

Gupta would have started her own beauty parlour if only the attack hadn’t cut short her dreams. “I have been saving money to realise my dream. This season’s earnings would have been my last installment but I will have to wait longer now,” says Gupta. But her plans have only been postponed, she says, not cancelled.

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