Author: Snehal Rebello and Ketaki Ghoge
Publication: The Hindustan Times
Date: July 14, 2006
For five years, 18-year-old Imtiaz Shaikh,
a Std VIII dropout, has visited Siddhivinayak Temple every Tuesday. On July
11, when he left home, Shaikh's mother, 36-yearold Shaheeda presumed that
her son was on his usual Tuesday tryst with 'Ganpati'.
He didn't return. But Shaheeda didn't panic
because Imtiaz is known for his long soulful hours in the temple.
"He didn't return till midnight. And
then I panicked. Since then we've been looking and I'll keep searching for
him," said a weeping Shaheeda, who was at Bhagwati Hospital at Borivli
for the second time.
Like the Shaikhs, for many families the search
is still on. "It's like D-day just swallowed up some people," said
Ravi Dhangar, Imtiaz's neighbour from Kandivli (E), on the search at Bhabha
Hospital in Bandra, "The hospitals' lists seem incomplete."
Security guard Ashok Kumar Dubey's (36), for
instance, figures as 'injured' and admitted to Bhagwati in the official list.
But on Thursday, when Dubey's brother Jitesh and other family members came
to hospital, he wasn't to be found. "He left home at noon. All the charts
in various spots say that he's at Bhagwati. But he's just not here, not even
in the morgue," said brother Jitesh.
While the family desperately looks for him,
his wife doesn't know the truth. "We've told her he's in hospital. That's
how we leave to search for him," added Jitesh.
Unlike many others, Irshad Qazi Mujhawar,
is alone in his search for his brother, Abbas Qazi Mujhawar (40) - a Solapur
rickshaw-puller who came to Mumbai to shop.
Irshad rushed from Solapur after getting a
call from his brother. "He phoned to say he was in the blast and was
in a Bandra hospital," said Mujhawar, searching for his brother at Bhabha.
"He just said 'mera bahut bura haal hai'. Since I came here on Thursday,
I've searched every hospital in Bandra."
(Inputs from Anjali Doshi)
