Families' Mumbai pain undimmed

By Prachi Pinglay
BBC News, Mumbai

Israeel survived the massacre by seconds

Mohammad Israeel Ansari came to Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus on the night of 26 November 2008 to see off his family members who were travelling to Bihar.

While his extended family walked in, he went on to park his taxi.

A few minutes later when he entered the station, what he saw changed his life - it was a scene of total chaos, his family of 11 members had been shot at by unidentified gunmen.

Six of his family members died and three others were injured. He had escaped the gunmen by a matter of seconds.

A month later, Israeel sits at a stall run by his late elder brother Mohammad Ilyas Ansari on a crowded street in central Mumbai.

Ansari used to sell perfumes, handkerchief and cosmetics.

Disbelief

Memories flood back as Israeel and his neighbour Mohammed Shamim talk about how Mohammad Ilyas Ansari used to be a father figure for many people coming to Mumbai in search of livelihoods.

"Our family was to travel to our home in Bihar. Everything happened so quickly that I still cannot believe it. I don't know what to do. I just come to this stall. I have sent other family members home to Bihar," he says.

Many died in the attack at the railway station

All four of Israeel's brothers were killed in the shootout and he says he needs to go to his village to fetch their wives to complete the formalities for compensation.

Israeel drove a taxi in Mumbai before the 26 November attacks, but ever since he has not been able to drive

"I don't know. I don't think I can drive a taxi now. But we are not educated and now I have to support the entire family by myself."

His four brothers had five children each and most of them are still very young.

The family has some farm land in Bihar but it does not yield enough to sustain every one.

Israeel says at least a few members of every family in his village are forced to work in cities to be able to survive.

Unbearable void

Shamim, his neighbour in Mumbai and also from the same village, says the jobs that Railway Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav has promised the attack victims or their kin may help their families.

However, due to lack of education qualifications they are not sure how many of them can actually be employed.

Chhatrapati Shivaji railway station is one of Mumbai's busiest

Having lived in a small accommodation with several people from his village who come to make a living here, Israeel now feels an unbearable void even in the midst of a crowd.

"After spending nearly 20 years in the city and struggling every single day, what did my elder brother get? He helped so many people, did everything right, but the gunmen did not spare him.

"Now I want to finish the compensation procedure and then may be, we will go back to Bihar forever," he says.

After the shootout, Israeel received $1,800 ($304 per victim) from the government which he used for performing the last rites of the dead.

The overall compensation for each of the killed is expected to be more than $20,000, but it is expected to take days, even weeks, before it is processed.

"My brother Mohammad Ilyas always used to say if there were jobs and livelihood options in our native place, we would never leave our homes," Israeel says.

"I hope someday there are enough opportunities in Bihar so that people don't leave their families and homes and end up in this situation," he says.