Mumbai blasts: Families united in grief

Bhuvans other cousins,Shahsikant Kashinath Waghe,32,and Sahadev Bhuwad,55,peons at Prasad Chambers,suffered splinter injuries and are unconscious at the ICU of Harkisondas Hospital. Bhuwads right leg had to be amputated.

The three families had moved to Mumbai two decades ago.

It was a horrifying night. Shuttling between the houses,speaking to each family and tactfully breaking the news8230; said Bhuvan,as he spoke on the phone asking if Tushars body had been moved out of JJ Hospital morgue and taken to his house in Kandivili. His wife has finally been told. His body will be immediately cremated, Tushars sister Salvi Bhuwad said.

Tushar Kolambe has been taking care of his father,his mother who works as a domestic help,and his mentally challenged brother apart from his wife Kavita,25.

Although the ambulance managed to get him to the hospital in 15 minutes,he died of his head injury, said Salvi.

Legs severed,face badly charred,the body could not be recognised by the family until they were shown the belongings the hospital had gathered. We live at a rented house in Virar. By the time we reached the hospital,his condition had deteriorated. He gave up at 12:30 last night, Salvi said.

Megha Ambekar,from the same village,was at the hospital lobby waiting to meet her father. Many from our village work in the Opera Hous area, she said.

I saw the news on the TV channel and dialled Babas number and on the other side,I heard his faint voice,I cant see my leg,save me. I rushed to Opera House, she said.

Kishan Shivsharan Mandal,35

Friends from Darbhanga remember him as a nice,friendly man,passionate about anything he did. He had been working in Mumbai for 15 years,the last nine or 10 years with D Acharatlal and Sons at Zaveri Bazaar. He worked and slept there,and had stepped out on purchase and collection work when the blast killed him. His enthusiasm for life and work was inspiring, said Dharmendar Roliya,owner of the shop. Mandal leaves behind his parents,wife and two sons,eight and 11,who live in Darbhanga,besides his brother Mahant,32,who works and stays at the same shop.

Rajesh Ramji Khedekar,28

He was killed in the Zaveri Bazaar blast; his brother Ramesh is battling for life. Rajesh and Ramesh worked in the diamond market at Zaaveri Bazaar. Ramesh is in GT Hospital with facial burns, said Mangesh Waghmare,a friend. Ramesh is being operated upon. Residents of Raigadh,the Khedekars are torn being attending to their surviving son and cremating their dead one. Rajesh has been taken back to the village for the last rites but his father and some relatives have stayed back, Waghmare said.

Prabhat c Naik,27

Married not long ago,Prabhat Naik leaves behind a pregnant wife. On his day off from work at a Zaveri Bazaar jewellery shop,he was visiting a friend at Opera House. The blast severed both of his legs and he was declared brought dead at JJ Hospital. Sumanjeet Roy,a friend from his village near Kolkata,heard the news of the blast and set out on search. He went from hospital to hospital all night,reaching JJ Hospital in the morning. I don8217;t know how to tell his wife8230; but I have to, Roy said.

Pankaj Dilip Soni,21

Vipul Soni,11,was inconsolable after losing his brother Pankaj in the Zaveri Bazar blast. A second-year Commerce student at BJPC College in South Mumbai,Pankaj had gone to Zaveri Bazar on some work. He lived at Mumbai Central in a joint family that includes two sisters. We own a jewellery shop and Pankaj wanted to join the family business after completing his studies, said Bhavesh Soni,a cousin who lives in the same house. He was always smiling and made friends easily.

Premraj Motilal Soni,45

He had gone to Zaveri Bazaar to buy jewellery for his daughter Monicas wedding next month. Soni ran a jewellery shop in Chembur. He was a simple man who worked hard to keep his family happy. Now there is no one to look after his family, said Teju Das,a friend. Soni,a resident of Chembur,had stopped for a snack at Nashta Galli when the blast struck. His daughters would be-in-laws would have come to discuss the wedding but now they have come for his funeral instead, his friend said. Soni is survived by his wife and two sons besides the daughter.

Bhupatbhai M Navadia,45

He was one of many diamond businessmen in Surat,with manufacturing units there and a trading office at Opera House,where he died. He leaves behind two children,17 and 18,and wife Varsha. He once worked in a diamond manufacturing unit in Surat,started working as a diamond broker at Varachha Hira Bazaar there and finally got into diamond brokering. Before leaving for Mumbai to bring the body home,younger brother Dinesh said,My parents are at our native village. We have given them the news and they are coming to Surat. The president of the Surat Diamond Association said they are in touch with members to find out how many of them had gone on business trips to Mumbai.