He wasn't supposed to be in Mumbai that day. And unlike other days, had left work early.

And as if this chain of fatal coincidences was not enough, he had started travelling first-class barely a year ago.

Now Pravinkumar Keshavlal Upadhyay’s family asks what took him away from them: fate, work or the pass.

July 11 began on a happy note for the Upadhyays. Pravinkumar had returned from Baroda early in the morning, a day earlier than planned. They put on a video of his younger son Mehul’s wedding, which was held recently.

The CDs had been delivered the day before, and the family was waiting for Pravinkumar to be back.

“We were so happy. We had no idea what the day had in store for us,’’ recalls son Tejas, 28, the eldest of three siblings. The youngest is his sister Preeti, 24.

At 8.30 am, Pravinkumar left for office. An accountant, he did the book-keeping for all the group companies of Central Automobiles on Charni Road. He had been with the firm for 29 years.

Eleven hours later, his family heard of the blasts in the news. They tried to reach his cellphone but there was no response. “At 8 pm, someone answered and told us that my father was injured and was at Cooper Hospital,’’ says Tejas.

When the Upadhyays reached the hospital, Pravinkumar was dead. He was killed in the first-class compartment of the suburban train at Borivali station.

Nearly three months on, Tejas regrets two things his father missed out on: The first long vacation he had planned with his family for this month and his promotion as the company’s chief accountant, due this year.

... contd.