'Can I meet Kasab and ask him what he has gained'

Mumbai: Is it possible for me to meet that boy?” asks Karuna Thakur Waghela, her eyes swollen, as if she has been crying for a very long time. “Or can you ask him what he has gained by doing this? In a single night he stole my family’s happiness, shattered all our dreams, took away the father of my children.”
That boy is Ajmal Ameer Kasab, the only terrorist caught alive by the Mumbai police for the 26/11 attacks. One of the men he and his partner Ismael gunned down was Thakur, Karuna’s 33-year-old husband who was a sweeper at GT hospital.
On the night of 26/11, Thakur was all set for his late shift at GT Hospital. He was sharing a meal with his son Yash in their ramshackle quarters, when Kasab entered their home from the lane behind GT Hospital. Almost as soon as he sauntered in, Kasab shot and killed Thakur.
Thakur’s mother, who lived next door, saw the two men walk in with their rifles. “He’s my son, don’t do anything to him,” she shouted, only to be shot at by Ismael. She ducked, escaping the bullet.

Now, Thakur’s children cope with the tragedy in different ways. While seven-year-old Dhaval is angry and wants to avenge his father’s death, his four-year-old brother, Yash, suffers from terrible nightmares. He saw his father die. The eldest, 11-year-old Roshni, meanwhile, has taken on the role of a caretaker, often consoling her younger brothers. All three children manage to get through the day, but when night sets in, so does uncontrollable anxiety.
“The kids weren’t afraid to stay out of the house until late, but now they cannot even venture out after 6 pm. They know that the terrorists came and killed their father in the dark,” says Karuna, adding that the family plans to seek the help of a psychiatrist for the two boys.
“We had so many plans for the children. We wanted them to study in an English-medium school. Thakur would say that he wouldn’t mind giving up one meal a day if it would help get them English-medium education,” says Karuna.