“I think I am ready for Gadbad,” said Nandini, referring to the local ice-cream parlour that served a sinfully cold delight of jelly, cream and custard. “Let’s do it on Tuesday the 11th,” she had told Meena, her childhood friend.

Meena remembers the telephone conversation vividly, more so because it was almost six months since Nandini had lost her younger sister Rachna. And a return to their ice-cream trysts meant Nandini was finally coming out of mourning.

“I could not control my emotional outburst. I knew this was going to be special for both of us as Rachna had left so many memories,” says Meena.

But that was not to be. Nandini’s body was found at the Borivali station on 7/11. She was returning from work and was supposed to meet Meena at Gadbad in Santacruz.

The Naiks — they are still grappling with the loss of two daughters within a few months — are trying in their own way to explain the inexplicable.

“She must have called Nandini,” says their father Ramesh Naik, 60, pointing to Rachna’s photograph on the wall. “They were always together in everything they did. They laughed, fought and lived with a lot of affection for each other.”

For Ramesh, Nandini was the ‘‘pride of the house’’. She was the accounting wizard, while sister Rachna was the ‘‘homemaker’’. The joke in the family was that if a guest asked for water, Nandini would point to the kitchen, while Rachna would also force a plate of Maggi on the unsuspecting visitor.

... contd.