Terror Trading, Leopold Style

Leopold Cafe, the starting line of the terror attack last year that held Mumbai hostage for 60 hours and killed over 160 people, is milking it for everything its worth.

Leopold Cafe, the starting line of the terror attack last year that held Mumbai hostage for 60 hours and killed over 160 people, is milking it for everything its worth.

The owners have even introduced ‘Bullet Proof Mumbai’ coffee mugs. Pay Rs 300 for a cheap piece of ceramic that probably cost Rs 50 to produce and you get a white mug that bears a picture of ‘the actual bullet mark at the Leopold Cafe’ and a badly-printed tribute to the security forces and victims of 26/11. 

“We feel that the bullets are a part of history that was created here that night. We didn’t ask for it, but it happened and now we should not let it go,” says Farhang Jehani, a member of the family that owns the 138-year-old eatery. He says they have sold more than 3,000 ‘bullet-hole mugs’ in the last several months. On the cash counter, the mugs and T-shirts (Rs 400) outsell their former bestseller, Gregory Roberts’ book Shantaram, which had made Leopold a pop culture icon.

So as horrific as 26 November 2008 was, as one Leopold staffer said, it was “also good for the Cafe, because before it was only foreigners who came, now everyone wants to be here”.

It’s been so good that the Jehanis recently added an extra floor to the two-tier restaurant to accommodate spillover customers.

coffee mugsLeopold CafeMumbai 26/11