Ramzan Sherif

‘I don’t know if my new employers in Riyadh will wait for me. Maybe there is something better in store’

Ramzan Sherif was preparing to fly to Saudi Arabia to take up a job as an accountant. It was time for thanksgiving and the 23-year-old and his family decided to pay a visit to the Bande Nawaz dargah at Gulbarga in Karnataka. As they were waiting for their train at CST station, the terrorists began firing and one of the bullets hit Sherif’s grandfather. “I asked a few policemen to rescue him but they told me to run for my life. When there was no firing for 10 minutes, I came out of my hideout. But the terrorist was behind me and shot at me twice,” recalls Sherif. Three weeks later, Sherif is all set to go home but he’s not sure if the job in Riyadh would wait for him. “I was promised a salary of Rs 35,000 but this was destined to happen. Though I have asked my employers in Riyadh for more time, I am not sure anyone will wait for three to four months,” says Sherif. “Maybe there’s something better for me in store.”

Arun Jadhav

‘As soon as my arm is fit enough to lift a gun, I will be back at work’ Assistant police inspector Arun Jadhav was the only one who survived the attack outside Cama Hospital that killed Maharashtra ATS chief Hemant Karkare, Additional Commissioner of Police Ashok Kamte and encounter specialist Vijay Salaskar. “Someone up there was looking after me,” says Jadhav, clutching a locket.

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