A brilliant career cut short

When 20-year-old Irshad Khan made it to the list of the chosen three to represent his college at Hyderabad for an industrial training project, little did the Khans know that fate had willed otherwise and Irshad would never come back.

On Sunday morning, when an 11.15am Indian Airlines flight brought his son’s lifeless body from Hyderabad, his 70-year-old father  Abdul Ghani Khan struggled to put up a brave front.

Irshad, a second-year engineering (electronics) student of the Amrutvahini Engineering College at Sangamner in Ahmednagar along with two other students, Kalyan-resident Kiran Chaudhary and Ahmednagar-resident Sachin Bhawar were among those who lost their lives in the blasts that rocked Lumbini Park in Hyderabad on Saturday evening.

“The college had selected three students each from Information Technology (IT) and Electronics stream for the industrial training project.

Irshad and two others were sent to Hyderabad, while the IT students were sent to Mahabhaleshwar,” said Malik Arjun, an IT student and Irshad’s close friend. “It was a three-day training camp and Irshad and the two other boys had planned to tour Hyderabad city after the completion of the project. It was this decision that cost him dearly,” he added.

“Irshad was my closest friend and very helpful by nature. We lived in adjoining rooms in the college hostel. He used to help me whenever I needed money. In fact, in the past two years, he never refused help of any kind,” said an inconsolable Arjun.

On Sunday morning, more than 400 people gathered outside the Green Valley Cooperative Housing Society in Sakinaka to offer their condolences to Irshad’s parents. “Irshad was a brilliant student and his father had high hopes from him. He had secured 94 per cent in the HSC examination in science stream and had opted for engineering. He was doing very well academically,” said Sharif Khan, a relative of the Khan family.

“The last time we saw him was when he came home on leave and left for the college on August 15,” said Irshad’s childhood friend Adnan Sayyed. “Whenever he came to Mumbai, he would spend time with his childhood friends at Tilak Nagar in Sakinaka,” said Sayyed. “He was very focussed on pursuing an MBA after engineering,” said another Asif Khan.

There were 49 engineering students in all, representing several engineering colleges from across the country, who were in Hyderabad for the industrial training project.

“Seven of them were killed in the blast, while the injured have been admitted to private hospitals in Hyderabad. Of the seven, three were from Pune, two from Mumbai, one from Ahmednagar and Bihar each,” revealed Mohammed Iqbal, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Hyderabad city.