The Red Factor!

Before driving red Alto death dropped him dead

http://www.risingkashmir.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=24226&Itemid=1

"Who will drive the red-colour car now?" wails Rubina, mother of Tufail Ahmad Matoo (17) of Saidakadal, allegedly killed in police action in Rajouri Kadal area on Friday evening, while he was returning from tuition. Tufail, the only child to his parents, had few days back alongwith his father Muhammad Ashraf Matoo made a choice of buying a red-colour Maruti Alto for the family. They were to purchase the car next week. "He saw his own red blood spilled, not the car," says Rubina, who has taken ill after the incident. Rubina is yet to accept the reality and is reminiscing the labour that went into the upbringing of Tufail. Muhammad Ashraf, who works with a MNC in Mumbai, was just looking at the sky in his lawn as if counting stars in broad daylight. "My holiday was soaked in the blood of my son. I shouldered his funeral; who will shoulder mine." This joint family of Saidakadal has lost its 'blue eyed' boy. "He was the centre stage of all happenings in the family. Everybody used to envy his shy but intelligent self," says Showkat Ahmed, uncle of Tufail. "His ambition was to become a doctor and had passed the 10th standard with distinction." A popular football player of the area, Tufail had knack for the computers as well. "During leisure time, it was all him and his computer," says Showkat. Renovated recently, the multi-storeyed, ancestral house of Matoos wore a dreary look. The flowers in the garden, even though in full bloom, appeared drooped as if pointing to an early death of a loved one. "He was a rose in our garden. The garden has lost its essence now," says Showkat while poiting towards the room of Tufail. Nadeem, 15, cousin of Tufail, was sitting in the corridor of his house, with tears rolling down his cheeks. "I lost a playmate. He was an inspiration for me." A student of science at Dargah Higher Secondary, Tufail seemed to have foreseen his death. "He gave me a long and passionate hug while coming out of the mosque after Friday prayers. He did not utter a word and just smiled. As if we were meeting for the last time. It proved true," says Muhammad Afnan, a friend of Tufail.