The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Blast maims spirit of intrepid fruit vendor

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, May 24, 2007
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Blast maims spirit of intrepid fruit vendor

Marri Ramu

Mohd. Saleem, the youngest of Mohd. Khaja's five sons, was killed in blast

WHO WILL TAKE CARE OF US NOW?: The parents of Mohd. Saleem, 25, who was killed in the bomb explosion at Mecca Masjid last Friday, in their house at Talabkatta. -Photo: Mohd. Yousuf

HYDERABAD: He suffered a heart attack twice but never lost heart. Failing health, increasing age, poverty, nothing could disturb 70-year-old fruit vendor Mohd. Khaja. But the blast in Mecca Masjid last Friday snuffed out the fighting spirit of the senior citizen.

Twenty five-year-old Mohd. Saleem, the youngest of his five sons, died in the blast. "While four of my sons live separately, it was Saleem who used to look after me and my wife Amina Bee in this old age. We wish we died with our son," weeps the crestfallen old man.

Saleem was working with a wholesale merchant and selling fruit on a pushcart at Charminar. On the ill-fated Friday, he set out for his job as usual. The youth told his parents who were getting ready to go to a relative's marriage that he would meet them up at the marriage venue in the evening.

Lone breadwinner

He went to Mecca Masjid for prayers after asking a friend to handle his pushcart. Saleem who suffered serious injuries when the bomb exploded was rushed to Osmania General Hospital initially and from there to the Nizam's Institute of Medical Sciences where he succumbed to injuries after a few hours.

"I hoped to see him at the marriage hall. Instead, I was taken to hospital to see his mortal remains," an inconsolable Amina Bee said. Saleem got married some 18 months ago.

Earning Rs. 60 to Rs. 200 per day in proportion to the sales, Saleem who chose to stand by his old parents would give away his entire earnings to them, most of which was spent on medicines for his father. With the only breadwinner of the family dead, survival has become a big question for the penniless senior couple.

"Being old and with our beloved son gone, we have no interest to live. But, what will happen to Saleem's wife? Who will come to her rescue," they keep asking visitors calling on them.

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