Usually rode his bike to work. That day, he took the train

Unlike younger brother Amogh, Abhijit never aggressively expressed opinions on such matters; he simply reacted emotionally. 8216;8216;He was an extremely sensitive person,8217;8217; says Ahiwale. 8216;8216;And quite shy.8217;8217;

Abhijit died in the bomb explosion near Mahim station on July 11, painfully unlucky for somebody who rode his motorbike to work every day 8212; except on Terrible Tuesday. Deep in grief, the family is yet to come to terms with the loss and refuses to be photographed.

Abhijit was so dependable that you knew he8217;d get home safe, says mother Ratnamala 50, who had sat up dry-eyed until 7 am the day after, assuming he8217;d show up any time. 8216;8216;My boy never hurt anybody,8217;8217; she breaks down and doesn8217;t speak after that, letting the husband and bristling younger son take charge.

Having turned 26 on July 4, Abhijit threw a grand bash for his friends that weekend. 8216;8216;He kept asking me to stay back until then,8217;8217; says Amogh, who was returning to Hyderabad, where he8217;s studying hotel management, after a long holiday. 8216;8216;But I said I8217;ll just return the next time the family meets together in Nashik.8217;8217;

With just over two years between the brothers, the friends8217; circle was common, and hanging out with them the only relaxation he allowed himself.

For, he was just six months into his second job at the Multi Commodities Exchange, Marine Lines, determined to prove himself.

An MBA from Gawade Institute at Mumbai Central, Abhijit was a devoted employee, leaving home sharp at 8.30 am every day, rushing off without his lunchbox if it was even a minute late. 8216;8216;His mother would run behind him,8217;8217; Ahiwale remembers. 8216;8216;But he8217;d be gone.8217;8217;

His maternal aunt, who rushed to Mumbai from Nashik on hearing the news of his death said of him: 8220;Never a harsh word to anybody, not even when he was upset.8217;8217;

The medical officers at Sion hospital, she says, registered his name incorrectly as 8216;8216;Abhijit Hiwale8217;8217;. 8216;8216;If not for the one missing alphabet,8217;8217; she says, 8216;8216;we might have reached him quicker and ensured he got better treatment.8217;8217;

Small thoughtful acts were his style: a long distance call to check on his uncle who8217;d suffered a stroke; his official book allowance used by friends in need, nights spent at hospitals when a friend8217;s parent was unwell.

On the Friday before the blast, he8217;d pressed Rs 1,000 into Amogh8217;s palm as he boarded his train to Hyderabad from Kalyan. 8216;8216;Just keep it,8217;8217; he8217;d said. 8216;8216;Kaam mein aayega.8217;8217;

For Amogh, he had big dreams: he8217;d insisted often that his kid brother hurry up with getting a passport, he was saving money for him to study abroad.

8216;8216;In two years, he8217;d have bought a house8217;8217;8212;the family now lives in the modest NABARD quarters at Damodar Park, Ghatkopar8212;8216;8216;and a Maruti Swift.8217;8217;

Amogh says his brother loved Mumbai so much that he couldn8217;t dream of living elsewhere.

8216;8216;He8217;d make endless plans for me to study and work abroad, but his own plans centered on the family in Mumbai.8217;8217; On the morning of Friday, July 7, Ahiwale shook his son awake, for he was leaving for Shimla to take up a new posting. 8216;8216;He was sleeping like a child,8217;8217; says the father. Abhijit had asked, smiling sleepily, 8216;8216;You8217;re really going so far away?8217;8217;

Finally, it was Abhijit who went away.