Six years is a long time to wipe away tears, come to terms with the loss of a loved one, to rebuild a life. But as the people living in the 1,000-odd Muslim houses in Naroda Patiya will tell you, six years has not been long enough to wipe away the fear from their hearts.

On Saturday evening, when Ahmedabad was being jolted by one bomb blast after the other, in Naroda Patiya, the only Muslim settlement in a 7-km radius on the outskirts of Ahmedabad, many anxious residents were already packing up to leave for safety. Here, terror has lurked beneath the surface ever since the riots in 2002, considered by many as the most brutal backlash born out of Godhra, claimed 103 lives in Naroda Patiya and the nearby Naroda Gam.

“As soon as news of the blasts came, I remembered 2002. My wife was almost hysterical, saying we had to leave this place. Even I thought anything could happen. So I took my three children and my wife and went to Shah-e-Alam (a Muslim neighbourhood),” says Abdul Khalique, 50, whose house was ransacked and burnt during the riots. Khalique returned on Sunday evening only after he was satisfied that the situation was under control and there was no attempt to take ‘revenge’ against Muslims.

The Khalique family’s story is one that was repeated across the narrow lanes of Naroda Patiya. Those who had relatives living in ‘safer’ parts of the city locked their houses and fled. Those who stayed behind believed they were taking a huge risk.

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