Unending vigil

"Even today I scan the papers, looking for Azu,” admits Rupa Mody, whose son Azar, then 13, went missing along with several others on February 28, 2002 when a mob attacked the Gulbarg Society in Ahmedabad where they resided, killing 68 persons. The Modys were the only Parsis in a largely Muslim neighborhood, reported The Indian Express (IE) on December 28, 2014. The bereft mother is still searching for her son who would now have been 25 years old.

Azar Mody: missing since 2002

Seven years after the Gujarat riots, in 2009, all those who went missing were declared dead. At the urging of friends and relatives, the Modys applied for a death certificate for their son a couple of years back. "But I have not followed it up and it makes no difference to me,” the mother says, in the lingering hope that Azar will return one day.
Parzania, a film based on the Mody family’s trauma, starring actors Sarika and Naseeruddin Shah, was released on January 26, 2007 (see "Caught in the crossfire,” Parsiana, February 7, 2007). A few years ago a television reporter alerted her about a boy in Kerala who resembled Azar. Accompanied by husband Dara and daughter Binaifer she went to Kasargode with raised hopes only to discover that the boy was 17 years old, whereas Azar would have been 22 at that time, IE noted. It was a major disappointment.
The family has moved several times since 2002 and now lives in the Thaltej area of Ahmedabad. Dogged by depression, Rupa gave up her job at a homeopathic clinic and stopped working as an insurance agent to spend time at activist Teesta Setalvad’s NGO (nongovernmental organization) Citizens for Justice and Peace. During the first day of the Gulbarg massacre trial in November 2014 she was present in the courtroom, "angry at the accused, that they all roam free,” mentioned IE. According to the newspaper, the mother has become a mentor for fellow victims and accompanies them to court proceedings.