It was like any other evening. My life was good – a good interesting job at a leading Automobile company in the country and a rocking personal life. I had just finished a meeting with top management on our media strategy for a forthcoming launch.
I was generally among the last people to leave late (sounds funny but 7 pm was considered late in my company then). I was the youngest in the office with all the senior guys around me in the HO.
I had Sanath (Brand Manager, Indigo) sitting next to me, Gautam (Product Manager, FIAT) and Aneesh (Product Manager, UV) behind me. We had a great team there with everyone supporting each other. It might sound strange in today’s competitive environment, but we were a close knit group.
On that faithful day, I remember my Senior VP and GM leaving at around 5:30. Gautam, Aneesh and I use to leave at around 7 everyday. At around 6:30, I finished my work and shut down my laptop. When I looked back, I saw Gautam packing up too with Mr. Sanjay Gupta.
We were about to get into the lift to get down from our 26th floor office when i got a call from my girlfriend. I was going to meet her in some time anyways. When I took the call, the first thing she asked was about my whereabouts. And then she told me there has been a blast in a local train. I told her to reach home as she stayed in town itself and I’ll see her there in some time. Gautam and Sanjay were about to get into the lift when I gave them the news. We all went inside and started calling people to confirm the news. Gautam logged in on a news channel website and confirmed the news (infact it showed 3 blasts by then).
The first thing that we all did was to call our family to confirm that we all were safe. By that time, all the phone lines in Mumbai were jammed. The only information we were getting was from the internet. By 7 pm, people were talking about 7-8 blasts and many causalities.
And suddenly, I heard Sanjay’s voice – “Where is Aneesh?” And it was then that we realised Aneesh was not in office. We all looked at gautam as both of them generally left together. Gautam told us that Aneesh that day had left early as he had something at home. And with a blank look he told us that he’s left around 6:15pm.
We tried his number immediately but it went on his voicemail. Even his wife called on Gautam’s landline to enquire. He didn’t know what to say. we kept calling him till 9pm but couldn’t get through.
Till that time, our senior management also got involved. Everyone in the office had been traced except Aneesh. Our senior management was trying every bit to find out about him. We had no choice but to leave. Gautam and Sanjay decided to stay in Taj which was right next to our office at Cuffe parade (going home was not a good idea as roads were jammed and our company had booked rooms for all of us at Taj. But I decided to go and stay with my girlfriend. She was already home and was waiting for me. I reached there at around 9:30pm. I was in constant touch with others and we were told that they were trying to find out about Aneesh.
At around midnight, Gautam called me. He didn’t say anything but he was choking. I knew what was coming. And the only thing I could remember was Aneesh’s ever smiling face. It was hard to believe that I’ll never be able to see that face again. My girlfriend was trying her best to cheer me up but I couldn’t sleep the whole night.
Next day, we went to the hospital to claim the body. I will never be able to describe what I saw at the hospital. I had never seen so many sad or crying faces in my life. I had seen such things on TV before but this was the first time that I was there in between all that.
I will never forget what I saw at the hospital. Neither will I forget Aneesh’s ever smiling face. That day when I reached home and turned on the TV, every channel was showing the same news. As mentioned, we in India aren’t new to such news. We see them very often on TV. But the whole thing had a new meaning to me this time. I could feel it.
I could so easily have been in one of those ill fated trains. It was my luck that I was meeting my girlfriend that day at Jazz. But I’ll never be able to get over the fact that Aneesh left early that day. Maybe, the only time in a year that he had left so early.
I don’t know what those people (who were behind the blasts) got from the blasts. Maybe, they just wanted to prove something. Maybe, they had a point. I don’t know if the blasts helped them prove a point. All I know is I’ll never be able to see Aneesh’s smiling face ever. That around 200 people died and more then 1000 were injured. And I know that it changed the lives of many people.
From that day onwards, no news is a news to me. For me, its a reality. Something which has happened and I was lucky that I’m not “the news”.
Pratyush
Pratyush's Weblog 