Hearing the loud knocks on the door of his provision-cum-STD booth, Sayd Rohtas thought his two sons had arrived to take him along for their morning exercises. But the 40-year-old was in for a shock.“People were on fire, there were loud noises with figures running in all directions, and finally the burning train itself,” recalls the man who turned into one of the heroes of Sunday night. His shop is the nearest structure to railway crossing number 49, where the burning train first came to a halt.“I immediately dialled 100, but there was no response. Then I dialled 101, which I suddenly remembered was for the Fire Department. They said they were rushing the fire tenders.”Soon, Rohtas was in middle of the action. “Before I could react, there was a man outside my shop, with both hands severely burnt. He asked me to take a diary from his pocket and dial a number in Uttar Pradesh. With no response, I tried a mobile number which was answered by a woman, the man’s sister-in-law,” recalls Rohtas. “I had to hold the phone to his ears. I don’t even remember his name now, but he was from Pakistan.” “The man told his relatives about the fire and I told them how to reach here. I made him sit on the chair, but soon his skin started to fall like water from his hands. I could not do anything, except comfort him,” he adds.Soon, there were more victims entering his shop. “There were these two men, and they entered and stared at the mirror and wailed, because their faces were totally burnt.” Rohtas still winces remembering the most horrific night of his life. “I don’t remember how many more people came to my shop that day. After a few hours my head began to ache.” Not used to heavy workload, the old batteries of his STD machines went on the blink. Rohtas then connected the phones to the mains and held the wire as the victims made their calls. His brothers and neighbours also went to work taking people to their homes and trying to connect them to their kin. Asked about the billing on that fateful night, Rohtas came up with the smartest answer a hero could give: “The phone meter did not work that night.”
