“Hamare ghar par kya beet rahi hai, yeh hamme hi pata hai, koi agar hamme madat karna chahta hai toh bas sirf hamare liye dua karein...” This is what Zamir Haji Dalal, 34, says when told that the Railways Ministry has announced a compensation for the victims of the terror attack at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST) railway station.

Zamir lost two of his family members, Ejaz Dalal, 39, and Abdul Aziz Rampure, 55, in the indiscriminate firing at CST. His mother, Dilshad Dalal, 68, and cousin Imran Merchant, 30, who were also injured, are admitted in the ICU at the Yashodhra Hospital in Sholapur. Zamir, who suffered minor injuries in his right hand, was discharged after first-aid.

On the day of the attack, Zamir and his relatives, who had arrived in Mumbai in the morning, had gone to see off his elder brother, Sameer Dalal, 36, and wife, Raisa, 33, at the airport. The couple were going for Haj.

“We left the airport at around 1 pm, after my brother and sister-in-law went. We boarded a local train from Andheri and reached CST at around 3 pm. Since our train was scheduled to leave at 10:30 pm, we had lunch and went shopping at Crawford Market and Manish Market. In between, we also offered prayers at the Haj House mosque. We returned to the station at around 9 pm,” recalled Zamir.

“We were waiting inside the station when the firing suddenly began. We were taken by surprise. People started to dive to the ground. I rushed to the gents’ bathroom and ducked inside till the sound of the firing was over. When I came out, I saw my relatives lying in a pool of blood. My mother and Imran were crying for help and crawling on the floor towards the main exit of the station. I carried my mother to St George Hospital, where we found that she had suffered bullet injuries in the right thigh. My cousin, Imran, was hit by a bullet in the back. Luckily, both survived and are in the ICU at present,” he said.

... contd.