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Express India :: Deaf-mute 23-year-old, dead in Byculla fire, inspired others to live
That’s how colleagues tried to explain to deaf-mute Santosh Nikarje that he should rush out immediately. But, the 23-year-old, having not heard the explosion in the Retiwalla Industrial Estate building in Byculla, continued working. Minutes later he would have seen and choked on the smoke, but could neither have called for help nor heard anybody offering to help him.
Around 6 pm, his body was discovered in a corner of the aerosol packaging unit where he worked.
Santosh’s monthly salary of Rs 1,800 was a small contribution to his family’s needs, much more significant for the sense of responsibility it had instilled in the youngster since his father Suryakant retired from a Central Mumbai mill. His sister Varsha and Suryakant are both deaf-mute too. His mother Sangeeta, overcome by grief, can barely speak.
After scoring 85 per cent in his Class X exams, Santosh had the option of running a public phone booth from a quota for the disabled, but didn’t want to do what other disabled people did. “He took up this job. He always said it is the first step towards becoming independent,” says Sagar Shinde, who lives next door and is one of the survivors of Monday’s fire.
“Just this January, he got a salary hike of Rs 400. He was excited because it was yet another step closer to his dream of a bigger house and a better life,” says Sangeeta.
The Nikarjes live in a room that is barely 100 square feet large, most of that space occupied by a cot, a cupboard and a kitchen platform. Santosh’s dream was a two-bedroom-hall-kitchen apartment.
Sangeeta is now the sole earning member surviving, making Rs 200 a month from a baby-sitting job in Worli.
On Monday, the family was unaware of the tragedy until late evening. “I went to Worli and returned at the usual time. As I stepped into my colony, people informed me about the accident. My neighbors had already gone to search for him,” says Sangeeta.
After a search at JJ Hospital, the morgue there and then at Nair Hospital, they found him at the morgue in KEM Hospital, charred beyond recognition.
“We could claim his body only because we could identify his gold chain with a locket and his tattered grey pants,” says Sanjay Nikarje, a cousin.
Yeshesh Rathod, also deaf-mute and a tailor occupying a shop just below the Nikarjes’ room, gesticulates to explain how close he was to Santosh. Rathod’s father interprets: “They were a group of three girls and two boys, all deaf and dumb. They loved being together. And now they have lost the one who inspired them to live life to the fullest.”
That’s how colleagues tried to explain to deaf-mute Santosh Nikarje that he should rush out immediately. But, the 23-year-old, having not heard the explosion in the Retiwalla Industrial Estate building in Byculla, continued working. Minutes later he would have seen and choked on the smoke, but could neither have called for help nor heard anybody offering to help him.
Around 6 pm, his body was discovered in a corner of the aerosol packaging unit where he worked.
Santosh’s monthly salary of Rs 1,800 was a small contribution to his family’s needs, much more significant for the sense of responsibility it had instilled in the youngster since his father Suryakant retired from a Central Mumbai mill. His sister Varsha and Suryakant are both deaf-mute too. His mother Sangeeta, overcome by grief, can barely speak.
After scoring 85 per cent in his Class X exams, Santosh had the option of running a public phone booth from a quota for the disabled, but didn’t want to do what other disabled people did. “He took up this job. He always said it is the first step towards becoming independent,” says Sagar Shinde, who lives next door and is one of the survivors of Monday’s fire.
“Just this January, he got a salary hike of Rs 400. He was excited because it was yet another step closer to his dream of a bigger house and a better life,” says Sangeeta.
The Nikarjes live in a room that is barely 100 square feet large, most of that space occupied by a cot, a cupboard and a kitchen platform. Santosh’s dream was a two-bedroom-hall-kitchen apartment.
Sangeeta is now the sole earning member surviving, making Rs 200 a month from a baby-sitting job in Worli.
On Monday, the family was unaware of the tragedy until late evening. “I went to Worli and returned at the usual time. As I stepped into my colony, people informed me about the accident. My neighbors had already gone to search for him,” says Sangeeta.
After a search at JJ Hospital, the morgue there and then at Nair Hospital, they found him at the morgue in KEM Hospital, charred beyond recognition.
“We could claim his body only because we could identify his gold chain with a locket and his tattered grey pants,” says Sanjay Nikarje, a cousin.
Yeshesh Rathod, also deaf-mute and a tailor occupying a shop just below the Nikarjes’ room, gesticulates to explain how close he was to Santosh. Rathod’s father interprets: “They were a group of three girls and two boys, all deaf and dumb. They loved being together. And now they have lost the one who inspired them to live life to the fullest.”