They all stood in as family for Zubair Khan. Friends of the 19-year-old H R College boy, they searched all over for him on Tuesday. And when they found him at KEM morgue, all they could do was to ensure his parents in Baroda could have one last look.

“The last time we heard from him was when he called and said he was boarding the train to come to Santa Cruz. When we heard about the blasts, we called his number only to hear someone say that Zubair was injured,” said Ravi. Zubair boarded the Borivali slow local to reach his home in Santa Cruz. But as his friends realised when they reached the morgue, he must have died instantly when the blast ripped apart the first class compartment at Khar.

Since none of his relatives were present in Mumbai, it was left to his friends and a lone cousin (Ali) to complete all the formalities to have Zubair’s body released. “Zubair was a gregarious fellow. He wanted to become a CA and do his MBA. In fact, his CA intermediate results were supposed to be out Wednesday. I can’t believe that someone I spoke to in the morning is not around anymore,” said Rahil.

Zubair was was the only Muslim in the group. But that did not matter. “I don’t think a person’s religion should be a parameter to judge him. We don’t like or hate someone because of his religion or beliefs. We liked Zubair because he was a gem of a person,” said a friend.