Fatal call cancels first Jumma dinner for sister

BY V L Srinivasan

Published on May 24, 2007

HYDERABAD: Five days after the wedding of his youngest sister, Zainab Banu, on May 13, Sajid Ali Khan (28) was busy making arrangements for the first Jumma dinner (traditional Muslims host a dinner for the newly-weds and close kin for four consecutive Fridays after the nuptials).

Around noon, Sajid told his family members that he would call on his second sister, Mehtab Banu, who was admitted to a private hospital, after Friday prayers at the Mecca Masjid. But that was not to be.

The relatives, friends and neighbours who turned up at his house that night were not there for the planned gettogether but to bear his coffin to the grave.

Sajid, who was working as a technician in Saudi Airlines, had returned to India following the death of his mother seven months ago, and decided to stay on so his father, Akram Ali Khan, a retired police officer, did not feel lonely.

‘‘Sajid had a mobile phone on his person and someone from Mecca Masjid called us to inform that he had died in the blast,’’ the victim’s younger brother, Omar Ali Khan, told this website's newspaper.

The family at first just dismissed it as a prankster’s call. Then the reality sank in.

‘‘Such was the impact of the blast that his index finger remained ruler straight, indicating that he died instantaneously,’’ said Omar. As he put it in Urdu, ‘‘Shahadat ki ungli marne ke baad waesi hi rah gaee.’’ (While saying prayers, Muslims raise their index finger while the others are folded.)

Even as the entire family plunged into grief, Sajid’s two elder brothers — Shahbaz Ali Khan and Mukkaram Ali Khan — working in Saudi Arabia learnt of the incident through the television channels.

They called up home only to get the tragic news. While in Saudi Arabia, Sajid had fallen in love with Syeda Asafia and they married against the wishes of their parents. The couple had three girl children — Tameem (4), Safa (2) and Ayesha (1).

‘‘Sajid wanted to get back to the real estate business he had been doing before leaving for Saudi Arabia,’’ Omar said.

With Syeda Asafia deciding to stay with her parents, Akram Ali Khan is a worried man. ‘‘Sajid was so attached to his children — even more than I was to my own. I am now worried about their future. After all they are our flesh and blood too,’’ he said.