The hunt for Azar

Dara and Rupa Mody have no intention of giving up the hunt for their son Azar who has been missing since the communal carnage that ravaged Ahmeda­bad a decade ago. Every day Rupa scans every newspaper clipping on the riots and riot cases at the NGO (nongovernmental organization) where she works in the hope of locating her son who was 13 years old when he disappeared, reported The Indian Express (IE) of February 25, 2012. She has sent CDs of the film Parzania, based on their trauma, to people all over the country as the last frame shows Azar’s photograph along with his mother’s telephone number. The film has reportedly been banned in Gujarat.

Azar Mody: Is he still alive?

Rupa had taken shelter in a Muslim-owned bungalow when the mob attacked, according to the IE report. The thick pall of smoke had caused her to pass out, and when she regained consciousness her son was gone. Ironically, the Modys’ own house remained untouched as the rioters mistook it for a Hindu home; even the Muslim women who had taken shelter there were spared as they had put on the bindis that Rupa used. The following day Dara went to the Civil Hospital to check out the bodies there, even measuring their charred feet to locate his son, but the boy was not of that number, IE mentions. According to Rupa, the police took away bodies wrapped up in sheets from the Gulberg Society where they lived, "but when we went to Civil Hospital to identify people, all were burnt. So, who burnt them?” she queries.

The Modys were the only Parsi couple living in Gulberg Society, and the fact that Azar’s body was never found had led them to believe that he is still alive. "My son loved trains, so sometimes I feel he must have hopped onto a train.” Hope remains eternal in her maternal breast.