Mumbai man rises from the "dead"

“I’m alive,” he laughs. And he wasn’t even on the train. In the scramble to identify the mass of bodies pulled out of the wreckage, railway authorities in Ludhiana chanced upon Tandon’s address on a sheaf of papers in baggage of the dead passengers.

His name and address was immediately put out on the list of casualties and this morning, a commercial inspector reached Tandon’s residence to convey the `sad’ news. Tandon was away at the time, when the officer told his son Mohit Tandon that his father was involved in a terrible accident.

Hearing the commotion, Tandon’s wife reached the drawing room. “I said that was impossible, myhusband had taken his mother for a checkup,” says the bemused lady. “The relieved officer said that we had just lost a compensation of Rs 2 lakh that was being offered.”

Meanwhile, a friend who worked in a travel agency read the list and called in to offer condolences. “He was taken aback when he heard my voice,” says Vijay Tandon.

Railway authorities presumed it to be a case of a ticket transfer. But it didn’t take the family long to put a finger on what had really happened. A few weeks earlier, Tandon was contacted by one Bobby Nalwa from Amritsar. Nalwa had bought a bungalow from Tandon in 1994 and had sent his courier with papers to complete the transfer formalities.

The courier, a 72-year-old Sikh gentlemen whose name Tandon can’t remember, arrived in Mumbai a week ago. He departed with the signed documents from the Tandon household on Tuesday, boarding the Golden Temple Mail.

The Tandons are now busy turning away the media who turned up at their residence for reactions this morning. “Onejournalist asked me why I was laughing after he told me about my husband,” Ms Tandon smiles.

Meanwhile, at the Mumbai Central station, Hargovind Gehani looks for his friend’s family amongst a list of casualties of the accident. His friend Jai Kishan Kubhani, a 35-year-old garment store owner was identified from a notebook found in his pocket. “But women and children don’t carry identification papers with them,” he says, looking for the names of Komal Kubhani and Lalit and Neelam.

The tragedy has come down hard on those without a clue to the whereabouts of their relatives. Praveen Patel, a farmer from Rajkot caught the first available flight to Mumbai this morning. He’s hanging around the assistance booth waiting for news of his brother-in-law Ramesh Patel, a travelling saree trader, who boarded the train from this station. “He called up my sister to say he was leaving on business for Amritsar,” he recalls.

Satish Jain boarded the train with his friend Ramakant Yadav for a pilgrimage to Vaishnodevi.His elder brother Dinesh Jain is frantically scouring passenger lists for news of his brother.

Seven more bodies of Mumbai passengers have been identified by the railways. Kashmir Singh (58) Municipal Colony, Vikhroli. Jaikishan Shadiram (55), Ulhasnagar; Basania, 109 / 3, Hari Niwas, SV Rd, IRLA; Ms Pammi, Ms Ritu, Ms Ravinder Kaur, Ms Paramjit Kaur, daughters of Harbhajan Singh, Nerul, Navi Mumbai;

For more details contact the following 24 hour phone numbers. Mumbai Central: 3015315, 3015316. New Delhi: 011-3384605, Hospital in Ludhiana: 0161-669924, Ludhiana Railway Enquiry: 0161-741052 / 44232.