Life Changed Forever after 26/11 for these Telangana Families

Hyderabad: Life has never been the same for Shahnawaz Noorjahan and her family, after that fateful night of November 26, 2008 at Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST).

She was waiting at the station along with her husband, their daughter who had married only six months ago, their son and grand-daughter after missing a train back home to Nizamabad.

They had gone to Mumbai to offer a thanksgiving prayer at the Haji Ali Dargah for Ameena Begum’s marriage. As fate would have it, they missed Devagiri Express and had no option but to wait at the station for the next available train.

Around 9.20 p.m. when they were all settled down like many other waiting passengers, sounds of gunshots sent panic in the station and people were seen running helter-skelter.

Ameena Begum (20) was among 58 victims of two Pakistani terrorists including Ajmal Kasab, who was later captured alive and sentenced to death in 2012.

Noorjahan’s husband Abdul Rasheed, who was then 55, suffered bullet injuries on his hand and back. The injuries left him bed-ridden and finally led to his death in 2011.

She was lucky to escape with splinter injuries along with a son and granddaughter.

“My father was the sole breadwinner for the family. He was an auto-rickshaw driver and also used to work in a factory manufacturing cement pipes. His thumb was severed due to bullet injury and he could never recover,” Sheikh Anees told IANS from Nizamabad.

Noorjahan’s health also took a toll due to the shock over the killing of her daughter before her eyes and later the death of her husband. “She developed blood pressure and diabetes and whenever she remembers that fateful night, she goes into depression. We don’t remind her anything about that tragedy,” said Anees, an auto-rickshaw driver.

He said the family not only lost two members but also suffered psychological trauma and slipped into financial problems.

Anees feels that things could have been better for the family if a member was provided a government job.

Two other families from Telangana had lost their loved ones in the terror attacks that had rocked India’s financial capital.

Vijay Rao Bhanja (47), chief executive chef at Taj Hotel, was killed in the attack on the famous star hotel. According to his family, he was trapped in the kitchen on the first floor of the hotel.

After hearing about the terror attack, they had called him over his mobile phone and he informed them that he is safe along with others in the kitchen.

Later, they received the shocking news from his friends that he was shot dead by terrorists when he was helping his colleagues to get out of the kitchen.

Vijay’s family suffered another blow nine months later when his wife Fareeda, who was working with visually challenged children in Mumbai, died in her sleep due to cardiac arrest.

Another person from Hyderabad who lost his life in 26/11 attacks was Lakshmi Narayana Haridwarilal Goel (57). The lawyer was killed when an IED exploded in the taxi he was travelling in near Vile Parle. He was returning to a relative’s house in Mumbai after missing the train to Hyderabad from CST.