Bidya Sinha Saha Mim: 'I could have been lying in that pool of blood'

Author Sharbari Zohra Ahmed"s parents live just across the street where Holey Artisan Bakery is situated . Ahmed is lucky that they are now in America. But her friend, Ishrat Akhond, wasn't. Even while Facebook introduction of Akhond read 'I am happiness', the messages on her wall were anything but happy. Akhond, who was a human resource director of a company, was reportedly killed in Friday's terror attack in Bangladesh.Akhond's friend, with whom she had gone to have coffee, was rescued though.

For national award-winning Bangladeshi actress Bidya Sinha Saha Mim, it was a narrow escape from what could have been a fatal outing had she not changed her plan last minute to visit a restaurant in Gulshan instead of Holey Artisan Bakery. 'In Dhaka, I stay five minutes from Holey Artisan Bakery. For Iftar, my younger sister and I went to a restaurant in Gulshan. We even discussed visiting this very restaurant, but that was in the planning stage. We finally went to another one, which was also pretty close to where the attacks were carried out.'
Mim reached the restaurant around 6.50pm. 'We left by 7.30pm and the attacks took place around 8pm. I am still in a state of shock. I was just very lucky. Every time I watch the news, the only thought that hits me is that I, too, could have been lying in the pool of blood,' said Mim, who has acted in a Bengali film, 'Black'.
It is a similar situation with producer Himanshu Dhanuka. While in Bangladesh, he always stays in a hotel in Gulshan. 'This place is like Park Street of Kolkata. Whenever I go to Dhaka, I stay at Westin Dhaka. That's very close to the restaurant where the attacks happened. This trip with Jeet is the only exception when I chose to stay elsewhere because of some other professional commitments. I can only thank our stars for this shift of venue,' Dhanuka said.
The duo returned to Kolkata on Thursday night. But three of their crew members stayed back. 'One among them was a lady. Their flight got cancelled and we stayed awake all night trying to find what is happening to them. This is a very scary situation,' Dhanuka added.
For Ahmed, it was a sleepless night trying to track her family and friends in Dhaka. 'My parents could have just easily been there meeting with friends. I scanned through photos that were privately sent to me of bodies that lay in a pool of blood inside the restaurant,' Ahmed said from Connecticut.
Thankfully, her cousin and aunt messaged Ahmed informing that they were in Chittagong when the attacks happened. But it was her friend who was missing. Ahmed knocked all her contacts, posted about Akhond on social media to gather details. Finally, a text message from a friend in Dhaka brought a sense of closure. 'I knew in my heart it was only a matter of time. These attacks are getting closer and closer to each of us and it meant that someone we know would be hurt. My friend, Ishrat, was murdered in cold blood last night,' she wrote.
Ahmed was happy to have her family beside her. But the loss of her friend plunged her into grief.