7/11 blast victim cremated

[Hindustani78]

Updated: July 9, 2015 04:30 IST
7/11 blast victim Parag Sawant cremated - The Hindu

Blast victim Parag Sawant's mother and wife grieve at his funeral in Mumbai on Wednesday.

Parag Sawant (36) died in P.D. Hinduja Hospital after being in a prolonged comatose state.
Tragedy returned to Ramabai Apartments, a modest residential building at Bhayander in neighbouring Thane district, as the body of Parag Sawant, latest victim of the July 11, 2006 serial train blasts in Mumbai, was brought home for the last rites on Wednesday morning. He was cremated at the Goddev village crematorium near home.

Sawant (36), who suffered severe brain damage in the bomb explosion in his train compartment, died in P.D. Hinduja Hospital in Mumbai on Tuesday morning after being in a prolonged comatose state.

“Now who will I call Parag?” asked his distraught mother, Madhuri Sawant, who would be at his bedside every day during the years of his hospitalisation. In 2008, when he gained consciousness for a brief period, he uttered the word aai (mother in Marathi).

Sawant’s eight-year-old daughter, Prachiti, who never got the chance to interact with her father, having been born three months after the incident, paid her last respects to him. “Papa,” the little girl called out as his body was being taken to the cremation ground.

Friends and neighbours remembered Sawant as a chatty and lively person. He was working as an assistant sales manager in a company back then. He married Priti Sawant in 2001.

BJP MP Kirit Somaiya, who had taken up the cause of 7/11 victims and ensured sustained medical treatment for Sawant, attended the funeral.

Through the difficult years, Sawant’s family had been hoping for “a miracle”. But that was not to be. Sawant became the 189th victim of the serial blasts.

 

[RescueRanger]

RIP.

 

[jaatram]

RIP

 

[Hindustani78]

Mahendra Pitale who lost his hand in 7/11 Mumbai blasts, paying homage at a memorial for the victims of blasts on the anniversary of the incident in Mumbai.

 

[Hindustani78]

Prayer meet organised to mark the ninth anniversary of 7/11 - The Hindu

Updated: July 12, 2015 03:42 IST

Prayer meet organised to mark the ninth anniversary of the attack.

The death of Parag Sawant this Tuesday revived the memories of one of Mumbai’s most horrific evenings nine years ago. He became the 189th victim of a series of train blasts on July 11, 2006.

But unlike the suburban rail services which resumed soon after these bombs went off, many ‘survivors’ of the terror attack are still struggling to get life back on track.

Sharing the tale they lived to tell and the aftermath, people who were injured in the blasts, joined Sawant’s family members during a prayer meet for the 7/11 victims on Saturday, the ninth anniversary of the terror attack.

Most among those who showed up at the prayer meet at Mahim Junction were the ones who had lost one arm in the attack. The prosthetics or other supports told a part of the story and accounts of alleged bureaucratic apathy and daily struggles further explained how excruciating going through life had been for them.

Artist Mahendra Pitale claimed that the Railways jobs has given to many of his fellow victims as compensation remains elusive to him. Mahendra lost his left hand travelling in the first class compartment when the blast took place at Borivali station. Although he admitted to have applied for the job only in 2010, he said his fight seemed to be a never ending one.

His fellow passenger Kamal Khemka, who had a printing business in 2006, managed to get a job, but has his own regrets: “I was 36 back then and at the prime of my life. My projections for business in the coming years and expectations from life were much more. One incident and all my dreams went up in smoke.”

But regrets and nightmares of that fateful evening aside, Mr. Khemka has also reserves some of his ire for the authorities. “Even today, I don’t feel that any commuter feels completely secure while travelling,” he said. His once bitten, twice shy stance is recurring in most victims The Hindu spoke to but trains being the lifeline of Mumbai city and the indomitable Mumbai spirit is what prevents them from shunning the local network. Namdev Rade, another victim, adds that he has never travelled in first class since the blast. All the blasts took place in first class compartments.

On the police investigation and the progress of trial, questions regarding have been repeatedly raised, victims shied away from making a comment but unequivocally stated that the strictest possible punishment would mean that justice has been delivered to the perpetrators.