Mumbai, May 17: Hari Narayan Keluskar’s bhav copy is like a badge. Surely, he must have witnessed the carnage on Dalal Street. Unlike other days, he doesn’t bother today to keep his bunch of bhav copies — the bible for brokers, traders and investors — tucked neatly in his dark brown suitcase as he heads home.

Keluskar’s face is dark as he boards the local train to Borivili at Andheri. “What reaction do you want?” he snaps, asked about the biggest sensex crash in recent times.

Like most other small investors, Keluskar got trapped somewhere between 4283 and 4506 points. “It was just one way at the market. Down, down, down. There was no respite,” says the father of three and owner of a house at Siddharth Nagar and a five-year-old Maruti car.

“People talk about some sort of recovery but it is too insubstantial. I had gone to meet a cousin of mine at Andheri. I knew he would be shattered because he had borrowed about Rs 5 lakh to buy some of these shares. He’s totally gone.’’

Keluskar says he bought ONGC shares when the company came up with the IPO some time ago. “It was Rs 712 (per share). Now it is hovering around Rs 500. Imagine somebody who bought a large number of shares.’’ Keluskar, however, does not say how many he had bought and how much he lost. He just says he feels numb.

At Jogeshwari station, Keluskar spots Mrityunjay Patel and Subhashbhai Mehta, who are broker-investors. Subhashbhai lives in the same neighbourhood as Keluskar. They nod at each other.

“Pati gayo (it’s finished),” Keluskar tells them in Gujarati. “You are surprised that being a Marathi I speak Patel’s language? Well, if you are in this trade, it’s better that you know Gujarati. They are everywhere,” he says in an aside.

“It is these foreign investors who are responsible,” Patel begins his tale of woe and shoots off a loaded Gujarati expletive.

“Just because some minister says that the disinvestment ministry will be scrapped and privatisation will be done selectively, they panic. Not that the Congress, at this point, is very good for the country. Why, even Pakistan is worried. Peace talks will have to start all over again.” Then Patel says he lost about Rs 10 lakh today.

But the look on Keluskar’s face says Patel is fudging figures. “He is a much bigger player than that,” Keluskar later whispers as Patel gets down at Malad station to share his agony with other Gujarati brokers.

Patel gone, Mehta starts on his tale to vent his chagrin. The podgy 55-year-old loudly lets loose an expletive as other passengers stare at him and the sparkling gold chain around his neck, the shining golden watch on his wrist, and his profusely sweating face.

“What is the need to make these unnecessary statements about the economy? First, you form the government, make a common minimum programme and then shoot your mouth,” he says loudly to anyone who would listen.

Some of the other passengers, mostly Gujarati businessmen and traders, are evocatively sympathetic in their silence.

“HPCL (shares) just some time back was around Rs 500, now it is Rs 200-odd. This is murder. How much have I lost, how much has Keluskarbhai here lost? Will Manmohan Singh apologise to us and say that he should have plugged his mouth? Even the stock exchange will now have to face a severe payment crisis,” Mehta says.

Mukesh Jhaveri, another of Mehta’s ilk, is less agitated and obviously more informed. “The FIIs were pulling out from other Asian countries and this is not an India-specific hit,” he says.

“I am holding on to my shares. I know traders and broker-investors like us have been badly hit, but the market will recover. There are a lot of good things going in India, specially the urban centres, right now. I will wait for a week or so before I start fuming like Mehtasaab.”

As the train comes to a halt at Borivili, Keluskar pulls Mehta aside. “If you accompany me, I can provide you some succour, at least for tonight,” he whispers before heading towards Sanjog Bar.