Rishab Pathak
HR consultant
When people came to enquire about Pathak’s wellbeing, they heard the story of his survival and saw the blood-stained shirt he had worn on the day. It was this thick shirt that prevented serious injury from the flying shrapnel. Pathak was returning home with his friend from the Marine Lines station when the blast in the first class compartment between Bandra and Khar injured him. Today, he can’t even bear to watch a blast related film. Yet, he retains the torn shirt.
“I always read about blasts in Jammu & Kashmir and never thought it would happen to me. Now I can relate to these people’s pain.”

Ronnie D’Silva
Senior logistics
manager, Unimark
Remedies Ltd
D’Silva recalls a thunderous explosion that fractured his right arm and made him dizzy as he hung from a local train at Jogeshwari. When he came to, he found himself at the platform minutes after the 7/11 carnage had begun. A year later, the railway pass that he carried that day is the only belonging that connects him to the incident.
“Whenever I see the pass, I feel I am the luckiest person, blessed by God, who saved my life. I try not to think of the gory incident.”

Narendra
Khandelwal
Share trader
Khandelwal, 57, doesn’t remember most of the events. He was somewhere between Khar and SantaCruz when the blast occurred and woke up to find himself in a hospital with multiple injuries. The only remnant of that day is his broken Nokia cell phone. He could have discarded the phone as a bad omen, but chooses to continue using it.
“I am not superstitious. Good or bad omens don’t mean anything to me. Life moves on. How can we get rid of our belongings by equating them with what destiny has to offer to us?”

Kishan Lakhani
Unemployed
Lakhani, 54, was returning from work carrying a lunch box and a wallet, when his compartment exploded at Mahim station. He was forced to jump and the box cracked. “I fractured my ankle and was limping while holding the tiffin in one hand,” remembers Lakhani. A year later, he has no job, an ankle that refuses to heal, and memories that refuse to fade.
“I have just washed the tiffin once and kept it, as I am sure it will be part of history. As for the railway pass, I have kept it for legal documentation.”

Shantabai Trimukhe and Shalini Jogdand
Homemakers
Shalini, 32, and Shantabai, 58, hopped into the Borivali-bound train at Bombay Central unaware that it was a first class compartment. The mother-daughter duo were headed home at Dharavi after a visit to the Mahalaxmi temple. At Mahim station, their compartment was ripped open by a powerful blast. They lost everything they were carrying that day, except the saris they were wearing. Today, Shalini is regularly on bed rest due to a slipped disc and Shantabai continues to be traumatised.The saris have not been thrown away—out of sheer practicality.
“Hamare paas itni saris nahin hain ki ye wali phenk de (We don’t have the luxury of throwing away these saris).”

Raju Thomas
Spare parts dealer
A resident of Vasai, 43-year-old Thomas was returning from work at Charni Road when he was injured in the blast at Mira Road railway station. “The place where I was sitting in the train was completely destroyed,” he says. “I must have done something good in life to have been saved.” Thomas is deaf in one ear and is still scared to board a local train. He has saved his trousers, but can’t bear to look at it.
“After I returned from the hospital, I kept my trousers in a plastic bag and put it in the loft. I hadn’t looked at them till today. I don’t want to remember the day I wore them.”