“Even today I wait at Mumbai Central at least for five minutes, something I did when Hriday was alive as I did not know how to go places,” recalls Katha,

who took up the railway job to look after herself

and her five-year-old

daughter.

Waking up early to prepare Nirmati for school and cook breakfast was once a shared responsibility, but now Katha Naikwad has to manage alone. And yet, she does not forget to wear her Mangalsutra, not just as a “safety” measure — “it assures me that Hriday is somewhere around.”

After the 7/11 blasts, railway minister Lalu Prasad Yadav announced a compensation of Rs 5 lakh to all the victims’ families and jobs to kin of the 187 dead. But only 31 signed up, as they were mainly class IV jobs.

While Jhanvi Pangle took up the offer for the “job security” and to feed her one-year-old son Soham, Shweta Futane did it to be independent, and 45-year-old Rupali Kamble to help her get over the loss of her 19-year-old son Rahul.

“The toughest part was to decide to take the job as I wanted to study further,” says Futane, who is an announcer at Virar station.

Pangle, who has been assigned to the policy section, has never seen so many files in her life. “Before the incident I worked in a garment company but after Ajit’s death I needed a good job to raise my child,” says Pangle, slightly out of breath as she has just returned from Churchgate Station after delivering a file.

And if she managed to learn to handle files, Priya Vispute, with the accounts department, overcame her fear of numbers. “I used to do social work. I have

never dealt with numbers and files recording payrolls for railway workers. But the situation forced me to do so,” says Vispute.

For most of them, the transition from home-maker to sole bread-winner was painful. But like Vispute, who wants to go back to social work and build a home for the aged, they hope for a better life for their children, despite the loss.