“Bade mullaaji gujar gaye, deedaar karne jaanaa betaa,” was the first thing my mother-in-law, largely home bound because of poor health, said to me. When the news of demise of ‘The 52nd Dai al-Mutlaq of the world-wide Dawoodi Bohra community, His Holiness Dr. Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin,’ was announced, the ripples were evident in the community. Before anybody could plan or understand the real magnitude of his demise, crowds—as if on auto cue—had started making their way to Saifee Mahal at Malabar hill, where Syedna breathed his last and the body was kept for deedaar (last glimpse). Although he had passed away in the morning, it was after early evening that crowds had started gathering. Women, children, old people, sick people—all of them—wanted to pay their tribute to the man they had been worshipping for the past 50 years. The hour of the night, lack of transport or sheer difficulty in holding on to each other, did not matter, not even to the women and children. Everyone from our family, including the old and the elderly, also tried to go—some were successful and some had to return midway because of the crowd.
The gates at Saifee Mahal, spread on a huge area in plush south Mumbai Malabar Hills, had to be closed after 2.30 a.m. due to over-crowding but that did not deter thousands and thousands who were pressing against the gate. People did not leave. 18 lost their lives in the stampede that followed, most of them, including a child, dying of suffocation. More than 40 were injured with multiple fractures.