7/11 Verdict: Father lives through granddaughters, says ‘my daughters are coming back’

Three years later on April 25, 2009, on Nandini’s birthday, Ramesh became a grandfather. His son Ashish and daughter-in-law Vishaka chose to name their daughter Nandini.

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A day before the verdict, Ramesh became a grandfather for the second time. The family is considering naming the girl child Rachna. “How else do you want me to explain this. I believe they are my daughters. They are coming back to me,” he says.

Ramesh, 69, Friday travelled to various television studios to tell his story – of his Nandini and Rachna. Asked by many what he wanted as punishment for the convicted, he wants the maximum. “They killed relationships, that of a father and his daughter… Imagine. They didn’t kill bodies. We just had photographs of our daughters to live with.”

Today, he says his granddaughter denotes life and his second will complete the circle. “Of Death and Life,” he corrects.

“Nandini will come by noon. She is in school,” he says over the phone. “You know, I may sound difficult to believe. But I know she is my Nandini. Like my daughter, this one loves noodles and fried rice and is crazy for ice-cream. And like Nandini she loves to go outside. There are malls now and that is where she goes with her parents,” he laughs. He says his granddaughter calls him “abai”, konkani for little girl. While “abai” is what elders call little girls, he says Nandini calls him that now, “because she says I behave like one”. “She shuts me up when she argues, just like my daughter,” he says.

In the family too everyone talks of the “resemblance”. On Friday, when the verdict was to be declared, he was busy deciding the things to buy for Rachna. “Oh God, she was of a different temper. I think I am going mad thinking of that little one,” he says.

Days have been harsh over the years he admits. While Rachna became a portrait on the walls of his living room, the automobile workshop owner missed his Nandini equally. Her death, he still recalls from the blast site in Borivali was abrupt. “Her face without a scar, beautiful as always.” His wife Vrushali is still to recover fully though.

The two have even named the house they built in 2012 after Nandini and Rachna. “Their memories are stronger. But then they never went, you see,” he says.

Early mornings begin with a chai and khari plate kept in front of the portraits of the two daughters. He says there is not one morsel that is had without sharing it with the girls. “My granddaughter knows them too. We have told her their life stories. She even called her sister Rachna last night. Just like that… There is no explanation to any of this. At least I don’t need one. It’s life. It’s coming back,” he says.
On Monday, he says he will try to see the quantum of the punishment, but he says it will matter little now as his daughters have left. “Maybe the joy of my granddaughter mitigates the pain that the quantum brings. As in the end it’s memories of that day. That fateful day.”
He speaks quickly and says that he has to switch off his phone as he is heading for an interview. “But I will tell you this. I think only because I scolded my wife and I didn’t believe it this week. It’s after years that she saw Rachna in her dreams on Wednesday night. She was alone. Nandini wasn’t there. Next night, we were at the hospital with a baby girl in arms. There is no way I can explain this.”
He must have nodded his head in disbelief, very vigorously. We can only imagine.