One of those who had helped that day and whom the family doesn’t know comes over: ‘‘I knew your son’s face. He used to return around 7.30 pm and always wore a smile.’’ He is Manohar Shinde, local Sena shakha pramukh.

Only a year ago, Swapnil got married to Swapnaja and they lived in Mumbai with his younger brother, Shreyas. ‘‘It’s sheer coincidence that they have such rhyming names. They knew each other for six years. When she came home the first time, we told her, ‘you are not coming here as a daughter-in-law but as our daughter’,’’ says Prakash.

On July 11, Swapnil was in town. Swapnaja had gone to her parents in Dahisar. Shreyas had left the day before to join his parents in Coimbatore to pursue his MBA.

Prakash, a retired electronics engineer is working with Chinmaya International Residential School as a consultant while his wife (Swapnil’s mother) is a teacher there.

The Okes shifted to Coimbatore a year ago to give the newly weds ‘‘some privacy’’. It was also a ‘‘career move’’ for Swapnil’s mother.

‘‘When I was working, my career was priority and she was looking after the children. Now, it’s her turn,’’ says Prakash.

The Okes used to stay at Dombivali, a suburb on the central line. Swapnil was born there. They shifted to Borivali in 1995 after he finished school. Equally passionate about books and sports, Swapnil went on to graduate from Royal College, Mira Road — he was in the college football team, says Shreyas — and had already started working while pursuing an MCom (distance learning) from the Kalina campus of Mumbai University.

... contd.