Italian Girl Left US After 9/11, But 13/2 Got Her In Pune

Italian Girl Left US After 9/11, But 13/2 Got Her In Pune

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Italian girl Nadia Macerini was a member of the Osho Resort and was killed in the German Bakery blast in Pune on Saturday.



On 9/11 when terrorists hijacked two aeroplanes in the US and rammed them into New York’s World Trade Center killing over 2,700 people, Nadia Macerini was so disturbed that she left the United States.

"She was in the United States during the 9/11 terrorist attack. She was so disturbed because of the attack that she left America. She found peace in India," is what Cynthia, her sister, said at a press conference in Italy.

Thirtyseven-year-old Nadia, who was a part of the Osho International Meditation Resort, was one of the ten victims killed in the German Bakery blast on Saturday. She was the youngest of three children of Antonio and Carla and the only one, who had never worked in the family shop.

For people like Khodu Irani the owner of High Spirit lounge, she was bella bambina. He would shout the words loudly when he saw Nadia cycle past him in Koregaon Park to where she lived in Woods Apartments.

"In Italian, it means beautiful girl, which she really was. She always had a flower in her hair, which made her look like a doll," said Irani, who is still coming to terms with the fact that he will never see that smiling face again.

Nadia, from Levane in Tuscany (Italy), posted the following messages on her Facebook on January 31. She wrote, "Pune Pune Pune kissing the ground I walk on!" while on February 12 at 6:33 pm, she wrote ’Home sweet home’.

"She really felt at home in Pune," said Nadia’s yoga teacher Malcum Marolia who taught her for three years. She was pursuing an advanced course in yoga. "She loved this city and felt completely alive here," he said.

Each time she was here, she stayed on for three to four months at a stretch, till her visa permitted and then just for the formality’s sake, she would leave the country, go to Thailand or Cambodia and come right back to Pune, said Malcum, who along with Nadia’s other friends, met on Monday at a common friend’s house to pay tribute to her.

That day, each of them shared some beautiful memories of her, after which they watched some videos of her singing karaoke. On February 9, Nadia wrote on her Facebook page ’Some know to have a life, some know to have a great life and some know: Life is great !!!’ Little did she know that her life would be snuffed in a terrorist attack.

Nadia’s friend remembered her as short (5’1 ft if not shorter) but a complete bundle of joy. "She always tried hard to speak in Hindi and would end up messing up Italian words with Hindi, which would turn out to sound quite funny. For example, she would call all her female friends Paglina which would be a concoction on pagli (meaning mad in Hindi) and Bambina (meaning girl in Italian)," she said.

Nadia had taught yoga in Thailand and London and once in a while would do some interpretation work.