MUMBAI: The male
members of the Sayyed family would be up and out heading for the local
masjid for the day's first prayers every morning. Wednesday was one
day, in a very long time, when they did not do that. And, in a cruel
twist of fate, those few minutes of delay cost them their lives.
Sayyed Umran, who owned Sayyed House, himself came to a gruesome end
which, his relatives said, was "something that a great man like him did
not deserve".
One of Umran's legs was the first piece of his body that came out of
the rubble, prompting a shriek from one of the members of the extended
family. "Sayyed saab used to come forward and help complete the
formalities whenever there would be unclaimed bodies. Today, he was in
such a state where no one could help him," Khalid Mammoo, a family
friend and chairman of the local United Youth Welfare Association, said.
His relatives agreed. "He was an inspiration to the community. He
provided free health check-ups for Haj tourists. Apart from having his
private clinic at Geetanagar in Colaba, Umran was also a resident
medical officer at Bachcha Hospital in Marine Lines as associated with
the Saifee Hospital, where he provided free service to the needy," his
73-year-old uncle A Q Sayyed said.
The eldest among six brothers and three sisters, the homoeopath's death
brought friends, local community leaders and some of his patients to G
T Hospital where his body was brought for post-mortem ivestigations.
Umran was also affiliated to the Samajwadi Party and was the
vice-president of the party's Colaba taluk unit. His wife, Rehana
Sayyed, was no less popular. Though she was not practising after her
children were born, she taught girls of the locality and from the
nearby slums.
"She would encourage girls from the community to get an education. She
was a mother to many," A Q Sayyed added. The couple's children,
nine-year-old Mariam and 12-year-old Umar, both students of St Xavier's
School, were among the dead.
Relatives wondered how Umran's mother, Fauzya Sayyed, and sister,
Sameera Sayyed, would react to the news of the death. The two —
residents of the same building — left two weeks ago for Lucknow to
spend time with relatives there.
Sayyed House is also home to 11 others of the same family who survived
the crash and would have to be accommodated at a temporary shelter.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Cities/Mumbai/Prayer_delay_kills_male_members_of_family/
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© 2008 Bennett Coleman & Co. Ltd.
