A railway engineer, came from Ajmer in 1979

For 17-year-old Akash, his father’s shoes are his most prized possession. Preparing for his higher secondary examinations these days...

For 17-year-old Akash, his father’s shoes are his most prized possession. Preparing for his higher secondary examinations these days, he wears them regularly as a reminder of the great responsibility that is now on him: to take care of the family after his father — Sojiram Modulal.

A railway engineer, Sojiram’s death has left his small family in a quandary. Wife Shradha (47) says she doesn’t even have the luxury to mourn. “His father was very keen on him pursuing engineering, but now I have no choice but to push Akash for a railway job,” she says.

Topmost among her worries is the repayment of a personal loan that Sojiram had taken. “My neighbours tell me Rs 2 lakh is yet to be repaid. I don’t even know how to pay electricity and telephone bills, never got a chance to do so. I don’t know how to repay the loan — if I use the compensation money, how on earth will I feed Akash and Ankita (14) who are still studying,” she says.

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Uneasily poised on a sofa in their two-room Nallasopara home, Shradha can only hope that Akash gets the promised railway job.

On July 11, Sojiram was on his way home from Mumbai Central when a blast at Matunga killed him. Later, when the police came home to return his belongings, the only think the family wanted to find in the packet wasn’t there. It was his treasured watch, a timepiece he had inherited from his father. “Akash searched the packet, but couldn’t find it. He used to joke, ‘after dad, I will use the watch’,” recalls Shradha.

Sojiram, who started off as a teacher from Ajmer, moved to Bombay in 1979 for better prospects after he got a job with the Railways. Later, he became a station master and remained one for 10 years. He continued to work his way up, ultimately becoming a CTNL engineer at Bombay Central Station.

He was known as a family man. Like any father, he loved to share jokes and have long conversation with the children at the dinner table. “Ankita was his ‘reporter’. She would narrate the events of the day as soon as he entered the house,” says Shardha, glancing at the clock as it’s time for her to return from tuitions.

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Ankita knows her father was very particular about two things: her studies and how she kept her books. “Every year, he would put cover on her school books. In fact, he did that a month before the blasts,” says Shradha. “From next year onwards, Ankita will have to do it herself.”

Punctuality was Sojiram’s forte. Even on 7/11 he had left home early to reach office on time. “He would either catch the Balsad mail or the same local to come back home. That day, he boarded the local on the insistence of friends — how I wish he had boarded the mail,” says Shardha.

With nine years left for his retirement, Sojiram had already started planning. Often he would discuss it with her at night. “Many a time he’d ask me about voluntary retirement,” recalls Shradha. “And I used to second his opinion. He would then joke, phir budha budhi ek dukan laga ke zindagi kataenge.”