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A bullet as reminder

Meena Menon

A family recalls a night of life and death at the CST

Rahmatullah Ibrahim and his wife Zeenat Bi.

MUMBAI: Ramzan Sharif, 23, only remembers the terror attack of November 26 when the bullet lodged in his chest gives him pain.

He and his grandfather Rahmatullah Ibrahim, grandmother Zeenat Bi, his mother and four-year-old cousin were waiting to board the Madras Mail at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus that night to go to Gulbarga.

“I had called home around 9.45 p.m. to say we had reached the station and all was well. A little after that we heard loud noises. I thought it was a short-circuit. I told my mother, grandmother and cousin to run to the local [train] side,” recalls Mr. Ramzan.

His grandfather and he were running out when suddenly he saw him fall. “I tried to pick him up and saw the blood streaming out of his body. I ran out and hid behind a large flower pot near the police chowky. I waited for five minutes and the sounds of firing stopped. I came out to go to my grandfather and that’s when two bullets hit me and I too fell.”

He heard the firing from the outermost platform first and could not see who it was. “I was conscious and lay there for an hour at least before someone took me to hospital. At St. George Hospital I couldn’t breathe and they put a tube inside me. I was later taken to J.J. Hospital,” he says.

The young call centre worker had another reason to be anguished. He had quit his job a month ago and was to catch a flight to Riyadh on December 11 where he was to work as an accountant.

That night they were to take the train to pray at the Bande Nawaz dargah in Gulbarga to ask for blessings. “Now I don’t know what will happen and if I will get that job,” says Mr. Ramzan, who spent 28 days in hospital. He had one surgical procedure to take a bullet out from near his spine but one lodged in his chest is still there. The doctors have called him next month for surgery. It will take at least four to five months for full recovery.

His mother Sirajunissa says: “We ran out of the station into the subway and kept going for a long time. The police did not allow us to stop anywhere. Finally at Reay Road, a good distance from the CST, we found a taxi. The passenger gave us a lift as he was going to Dadar.”

“He even paid the reluctant driver Rs. 300 to drop us at home in Kurla,” she says. “I thought it was fire-crackers when I heard the firing, then someone shouted run, run, they are terrorists,” she recalls. “A small bomb like a ball came under my foot. I was terrified, but it did not explode. We just ran for our lives and we heard loud explosions. I think it was the bomb under my foot,” shudders Ms. Sirajunissa.

The family ran with their luggage, only one bag was left behind. “We got it back, it was a miracle,” she adds. “I called my son all night but he did not pick up the phone. I feared the worst... It was the next morning that the hospital called us.”

Ms. Sirajunissa’s husband died some years ago and Mr. Ramzan is her only child. “God is kind. He gave me my son back but took away my father instead,” she cries. “My father was a hard worker, he has been working since the age of 11,” says his other daughter, Badrunissa.

Rahmatullah provided for his family from his earnings in Dubai where he worked for close to 40 years building roads. They are a joint family of two brothers and two sisters. He returned a few years ago due to poor health and suffered from heart ailments and diabetes. His family is proud of his hard work. He set up a general store near their home in Kurla but it was closed down.

Hailing from Tiruvannamalai in Tamil Nadu, the family has settled in Mumbai for many years. “My grandfather was a strong man. Though he was in Dubai he used to come once in a while on leave,” says Mr. Ramzan.

His daughters say this was the time he should have enjoyed his grandchildren and led a quiet life. “But things turned out otherwise.”

The family only got to know the next morning about Rahmatullah’s death. “We looked for him in all hospitals till we found him, but it was over then,” says Ms. Badrunissa.

The traditional 40 days of mourning are over but it will be a long time before the family gets over the grief. Mr. Ramzan says he remembers that awful night only when his left side hurts.

“It’s winter now and the pain is severe. My insides are badly damaged. Otherwise I don’t think of the incident,” he says, with the confidence of youth.

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