MUMBAI: "Jafrani, I
need some money urgently to put into business, we'll tell you details
later."
Fate did not give 25-year-old Sayyed Salman enough time to explain why
he needed the money. It was the last SMS that Nawab, as Salman was
called by his near and dear ones for his love of Lucknavi kebabs and
flashy bikes, sent out from his mobile before he died in Wednesday
morning's crash.
But the SMS — recovered from the rubble of Sayyed House by
fire-fighters — showed how Salman was preparing for a new life. He
wanted to get married soon and needed money to streamline a small-time
mobile business he ran from the same building. But his dreams crashed
with Sayyed House's collapse.
Salman was the youngest of six brothers in his family and, after all of
them married and settled down, his family started looking for a
suitable match for him only recently. "He would even joke that we (his
friends) would be left alone once he married," 27-year-old Sajjad
Quereshi, one of Salman's closest friends, said.
Salman, Quereshi and some other friends had tea around 4.30 am, a
little before Sayyed House came down. Salman then wanted to go out for
their favourite early-morning adventure — hunting for a new kebab joint
— but the others turned down his request. He then skipped his fazar
(morning prayers in the mosque) and stepped into his room on the fifth
floor of Sayyed House to sleep. And that could have been his undoing.
"He never goes to sleep without delivering his fazar. God only knows
why he decided to skip it today," Adnan Mukadam, another friend, said.
Salman, the youngest of the brothers, was also the most pampered of the
lot and his brothers set up the cellphone business for him. Salman was
handed over the reins of another family business a couple of years ago
but suffered heavy losses.
"He always lived his life like a nawab, never cared for anything or any
business. All he wanted to do was eat every night at Lucknow Gate (for
its kebabs), Multan (for the lassi), Noorani Cafe (for its sweets) and
Central (for its rice)," Quereshi said.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Cities/Mumbai/Final_SMS_shows_victim_was_preparing_for_a_new
_life/articleshow/3706975.cms
Copyright
© 2008 Bennett Coleman & Co. Ltd.
