Sayyed Azhar (18) School dropout, worked in an air compressor repair unit

The only photograph that Sayyed Azhar (18) took of himself was for a school I-card in his early teens. The only other picture that the family now safeguards is the picture of his disfigured body from the night of the September 29 blast published in a local Malegaon tabloid. He had gone to offer namaz with his father and later had taken a longer route to reach home. “I reached home safe as I took the short route to our house. He wanted to catch up with some friends at the local tea shop, which is where the blast took place,” says his father Nisar Ahmed (58), adding, “When I heard about the blast, my instincts told me Azhar must be around helping the victims.” It was only at 11.30 pm, two hours after the blast took place, when some men stood in silence at the door that Nisar Ahmed realised that something was not right.

Azhar studied till Std IX — his Urdu medium private school shut down for lack of funds. “One day he just said that he wanted to start working. Books don’t appeal to me,” says mother Mehjabin. Of the many things she will always cherish is his passion for his work. “He was only 18 and within six months he had mastered the skills to repair and recreate an air compressor. He wanted to learn more and open his own shop,” says his brother, Sayyed Abrar (22).

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