That day, Nawalbhai had gone to a meet a friend in south Mumbai to arrange foreign exchange for his son who was returning to the US the following day. That night, when the family discovered that Nawalbhai was one among those who had died in the serial train blasts and located his body at JJ Hospital, they identified him by the $ 2,000 he was clutching close to his heart.“Nawalbhai carried a cell phone and would always call home at intervals of an hour or two,” says his long time neighbour and relative BM Jangla. As news of the blasts reached them, his wife Hansaben, 60, son Pranav, 28, and daughter Hemal panicked. They couldn’t reach him. After a long search he was found at JJ Hospital. “His identity card, watch and wallet were missing. Only the dollar bills he was carrying for Pranav were with him. We could identify him because of that,” adds Jangla. The Mathurias came to Jangla Nagar in Malad East in 1968. All 14 residents of Building No 1 are from Saurashtra. While Pranav lives in the US, Hemal is an MBBS and lives with her family at the Reliance quarters in Gujarat. Nawalbhai, an expert optician, liked to keep himself busy. Though he wasn’t going to their shop in Borivali these days, he would accompany his south Mumbai friend everyday to Chasma Galli near Mangaldas Market to spend time and trade at the city’s wholesale market for spectacles.“He agreed to be with me for a few hours saying, ‘Ghar bithake kya karoonga (what shall I do sitting idle at home),” says Jangla, but adds that Hansaben would always want him to spend more time at home.“After all he was soon going to be a proud grandfather.” Pranav hasn’t gone back to the US. He is living with his mother Hansaben. Both are waiting for him to become a father.
