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NEW DELHI: Ten days ago, Dinesh had travelled from Delhi to his village Ganeshpur in UP’s Shravasti to celebrate Diwali. He spent the afternoon decorating the mud walls of his home with his daughters, Bitta, 7, and Srishti, 4, before joining the evening prayers.
His eldest son, Himanshu, 8, clung to his hand, reluctant to let go when it was time for him to leave. “I’ll be back soon,” Dinesh had said. “Just after the next order.”He worked at a printing press in Chandni Chowk, earning enough to send money home every few weeks. The work was hard but steady, and Delhi had begun to feel familiar — a rented room near the press, tea from the same stall each morning.
His wife Reena Devi stayed back in Ganeshpur with the children, while his brothers Guddu and Rajesh worked as labourers elsewhere in Delhi.
His father, Bhure Mishra, a farmer, called every Sunday to ask if he was eating well. “He always said the same thing,” Bhure recalled later. “Bas kuch din ki baat hai — just a matter of a few days.”On Monday evening, the blast near Red Fort ripped through that small certainty. For hours, the family tried calling. When no one answered, Guddu rode his motorcycle through the city’s chaos toward Chandni Chowk. He was the one who found Dinesh at LNJP Hospital.
“I want to appeal to the PM to help us,” said Bhure. “Whatever we receive, it will go to the children.”Villagers gathered outside the Mishra home, some holding small lamps left over from Diwali. Inside, Reena sat on the floor, her hands motionless in her lap. “He called every night,” she whispered. “He said Delhi was noisy but good for work.”
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