Naroda Patiya riots: 14-yr-old who lost all now has a house,family

Its luck that saved him when 98 others,including his entire family,were killed in the Naroda Patiya riots in 2002

Its luck that saved him when 98 others,including his entire family,were killed in the Naroda Patiya riots in 2002. Its luck that ensured then President Abdul Kalam picked him out during a visit to a camp for riot victims,earning the then 14-year-old the tag of Woh Rashtrapati-wala in the area.

Now married and father of one,living under 24X7 police protection as a witness to the killings,Javed Sheikh doesnt say what he makes of that distinction. Since that day of February 28,2002,his life hasnt found any kind of stability,though he owns a duplex house in the dingy lanes of Bombay Hotel slums.

After meeting Javed,Kalam had ordered that he be provided free education. However,the disturbed teenager couldnt concentrate and left school soon. The authorities were planning to shift me to a boarding school near Sanand but the gory memories kept haunting me, says Javed,who had earlier dropped out after Class IV.

He left for native Gulbarga in Karnataka (most of the neighbourhood belonged to that state),only to return after a while and become a tailor. A complication in the eye,however,forced him to give that up and he became an autorickshaw driver. By then Javed was married to Asma,a resident of Ahmedabad. They kept moving,from Naroda Patiya to Vatvas Faizal Nagar to finally Bombay Hotel.

Javed still remembers the old man who saved him when his house was attacked and his parents and sister set afire. The man told the mob to leave Javed alone as he is only a child. All these years later,Javed says what keeps him alive and going is the sight of his child,one-year-old Danish.