The family remembers Mushtaq for the way he struggled to make the ends meet. “He never had any reason to rejoice. We could not educate him. He worked 18 hours as a labourer,” says the father. He had told me a few months ago that he wanted to give his child a good life and had begun saving money. The day he told me he was going to be a father, there was

a smile on his face. He was happy after a very long time.”

Irfan Khan (22) Autorickshaw driver, loved travelling

On the night after the blast when Ziaullah Khan (52) spoke to his son on the phone, he had said only two lines. “I am fine. My back is burning a bit. But I will be back soon.” Irfan was transferred to a hospital in Mumbai where he breathed his last. The family was later told by the doctors that there were splinter marks all over his body. “Uske dil main lag gaya tha,” says his father sitting in his Malegaon house. The “most obedient son” in the family, he would often be teased by his sisters for never crossing the 11 pm deadline set by his father for returning home. Irfan had gone out that evening after offering namaz to buy a pair of jeans for himself. His youth, says his father, was spent doing odd jobs — like selling vegetables, ice-cubes — as both the father and Irfan’s brother Imran did not earn much at the power loom units where they worked as labourers. “It was only last year that he had learned to ride a autorickshaw, and he bought one with a loan,” says his father. It took him 11 months to repay the loan. “We sold his autorickshaw a few days ago as it reminds us of him,” said his brother.

... contd.