Before dawn, Anil Ambalal Patel prepared to say a last goodbye to the couple who had brought love back into his life.

黎明前，阿尼尔·安巴拉尔·帕特尔准备与这对将爱带回他生命中的夫妇做最后的道别。

Lingering in his bed, he stared at the two faces on his phone screen: his son, Harshit, and his daughter-in-law, Pooja. He then moved the phone close to his lips, giving each forehead a kiss.

他躺在床上，凝视着手机屏幕上的两张面孔：他的儿子哈什特和儿媳普贾。然后，他把手机凑近唇边，在两人的额头上各自亲吻了一下。

They were gone now, and what little joy he had found after years of hardship was gone, too. On this day, he would be with them once more as he scattered their ashes in the Narmada River.

他们都已经不在了，而他在多年艰辛生活后找到的那一点点快乐也随之消逝。这一天，当他把他们的骨灰撒入讷尔默达河时，他将再次与他们同在。

Twelve days earlier, Patel, 60, a widower who works for a security company in Ahmedabad, India, had wished Harshit and Pooja safe travels after they spent two weeks with him on a surprise visit from Britain, where they had moved in search of a better life. And then suddenly they were taken from him, killed along with 239 others when Air India Flight 171 crashed soon after it took off June 12 and burst into an inferno.

60岁的鳏夫帕特尔在印度艾哈迈达巴德的一家安保公司工作，12天前，他送别了哈什特和普贾。这对夫妇前往英国追求更好的生活，这次回来是为了给他一个惊喜，三人一起度过了两周时光。他祝他们一路平安。然而，他们却突然离他而去——6月12日，印度航空171号航班起飞后不久坠毁，燃起熊熊大火，包括这对夫妻在内的239人遇难。

6月12日，印度航空公司171号航班在印度艾哈迈达巴德坠毁，造成260人死亡，其中包括19名地面人员。

“They were my everything,” he said of the couple in an interview.

“他们是我的一切，”他在采访中这样描述这对夫妇。

In its vast sprawl, in its deep inequality, India can feel like a pit that swallows people like the Patels — the poor, the aspiring — and renders them nameless, numbers rounded off in a nation of 1.4 billion people.

在幅员辽阔、贫富差距悬殊的印度，帕特尔一家这样贫穷却心怀憧憬的人仿佛很容易被这个有14亿人口的国家吞噬，沦为无名无姓、可以被四舍五入的数字。

They face enormous odds as they try to rise from poverty to the middle class, and their quest is often solitary, as family members travel in search of jobs. For Patel, the deaths of Harshit and Pooja snuffed out a dream of economic mobility and familial community in an instant.

他们努力从贫困阶层跻身中产阶级，前路充满巨大阻碍，而这往往是孤身一人的奋斗——家人们为了找工作不得不四处奔波。对帕特尔来说，哈什特和普贾的离世瞬间熄灭了他改善经济和一家团圆的梦想。

Born poor in a country still divided by caste and class, Patel never got a proper education beyond basic literacy. He made do by working hard, moving from town to town in search of odd jobs. In 1990, he married Uma, a woman with lucid eyes, a meticulous routine and more education than he had. They raised two children: a daughter, Radhi, and Harshit.

帕特尔出身贫寒，在这个仍以种姓和阶级划分的国家，除了基本的识字能力之外，他从未接受过正规教育。他勤恳工作，为了打零工从一个城镇辗转到另一个城镇。1990年，他与乌玛结婚，乌玛眼神清澈，生活作息一丝不苟，比他受过更多教育。他们养育了两个孩子：女儿拉迪和儿子哈什特。

The family settled in Ahmedabad, the largest city in the state of Gujarat, where Patel worked as an auto-rickshaw driver. After an accident that left him unable to drive, he found a job as a security guard and then a security supervisor. Radhi had married and lived with her husband. Harshit got a job, first at a call center and then at a ceramics company, to help out.

一家人定居在古吉拉特邦最大的城市艾哈迈达巴德，帕特尔在那里当三轮车司机。一场事故后，他无法再开车，于是找了份保安的工作，后来又升为保安主管。女儿拉迪结婚后和丈夫住在一起。哈什特先在一家电话客服中心工作，后来又去了一家陶瓷公司，赚钱贴补家用。

A few years ago, Uma Patel was diagnosed with advanced breast cancer. The couple scrambled to borrow thousands of dollars for her treatment, with Anil Patel often skipping work to stay by her side. But it was too late. On the day that turned out to be her last, Uma Patel insisted that she was feeling better and that he return to work.

几年前，乌玛被诊断出患有晚期乳腺癌。夫妇俩使出浑身解数借了数千美元为她治疗，帕特尔常常请假守在她身边。但一切都太晚了。在乌玛生命的最后一天，她坚持说自己感觉好多了，让他回去上班。

“I loved Uma a lot,” Anil Patel said. She died at age 48.

“我非常爱乌玛，”帕特尔说。乌玛去世时48岁。

Father and son chipped away at paying back the loans.

父子俩一点点地偿还着债务。

That was when Pooja came into Patel’s life. Harshit met her at work. In Gujarat, which is still deeply conservative, dating and marriages that are not arranged are rare — especially matches between people from different caste, religious, and, in the case of Harshit and Pooja, ethnic backgrounds. Harshit was Gujarati and Pooja was Marathi, her family hailing from the neighboring state of Maharashtra.

就在这时，普贾走进了帕特尔的生活。哈什特是在工作中认识她的。在古吉拉特邦，社会观念依然十分保守，自由恋爱和非包办婚姻并不常见——尤其是不同种姓、不同宗教，以及像哈什特和普贾这样不同族群背景的人在一起。哈什特是古吉拉特人，而普贾是马拉地人，她的家人来自邻近的马哈拉施特拉邦。

Pooja’s parents expected to arrange a marriage for her, so she and Harshit had to carry on a secret romance.

普贾的父母希望为她安排一门婚事，所以她和哈什特不得不秘密恋爱。

帕特尔在艾哈迈达巴德的家中。左边相框照片中是帕特尔的妻子乌玛，48岁时死于癌症。右边是帕特尔的父亲。

Six years ago, the couple went to a marriage registration office and married. After Pooja’s family cooled off, they held a small function to share the news.

六年前，这对夫妇去婚姻登记处登记结婚。等普贾的家人消了气，他们才举办了一个小型仪式，公布了结婚的消息。

Patel’s house was no longer lonely after his new daughter-in-law moved in.

儿媳搬进来后，帕特尔的家不再冷清。

“The day Pooja came to our house, she brought peace,” Patel said.

“来到我们家的那一天，普贾就带来了安宁，”帕特尔说。

During their time living with Patel, Harshit and Pooja went out for long dinners at rooftop cafes with Harshit’s school friend Foram Gohil and her husband, Rajveer Gohil. The couples took so many trips together that their shared WhatsApp group has more than 2,000 photos.

和帕特尔同住的日子里，哈什特和普贾会和哈什特的同学福拉姆·戈希尔及其丈夫拉吉维尔·戈希尔一起去屋顶咖啡馆吃晚餐，一聊就到很晚。这两对夫妇多次一起旅行，他们的WhatsApp群里有超过2000张照片。

But Harshit and Pooja wanted more. Seeing little opportunity for economic advancement, they soon moved out of Patel’s home and away from him and their friends.

但哈什特和普贾想要的更多。他们看到在国内经济发展机会有限，很快就搬出了帕特尔的家，离开了他和他们的朋友。

Pooja, by all accounts a stellar student, became their ticket to a middle-class life. She got into a Master of Business Administration program at De Montfort University in Leicester, England, and Harshit went along on a spouse visa. The families pooled together loans to pay for it.

大家都说普贾是个优秀的学生，她成了他们通往中产阶级生活的“门票”。她考上了英国莱斯特的德蒙福特大学的工商管理硕士项目，哈什特则凭借配偶签证一同前往。两家凑钱借了贷款来支付相关费用。

The couple encouraged Patel to move in with Pooja’s parents, whose home in Ahmedabad had a room on the roof that they rented to tenants.

这对夫妇鼓励帕特尔搬去和普贾的父母同住，他们在艾哈迈达巴德的家屋顶有一个房间，此前用于出租。

Last month, they made a surprise trip home to India. They joined the Gohils for dinners that dragged late into the night, like the old days. And they got a fast-track passport for the elder Patel so he could visit them occasionally until they moved back full time.

上个月，夫妻俩突然回了印度。他们和戈希尔夫妇一起吃晚餐，像从前一样聊到深夜。他们还为老帕特尔办理了快速护照，这样他就能偶尔去看望他们，直到他们彻底搬回来。

On the day of their flight back, they video-called Patel from the boarding gate. From their seats, they sent a selfie video to the couples’ WhatsApp group.

返程那天，他们在登机口给帕特尔打了视频电话。在座位上，他们还发了一段自拍视频到两对夫妇的WhatsApp群里。

Harshit, who was holding the camera, said, “Bye-bye, Foram and Rajveer.” Pooja waved and sent a kiss.

拿着相机的哈什特说：“再见，福拉姆和拉吉维尔。”普贾挥了挥手，送了一个飞吻。

When Gohil heard that the plane had crashed so soon after takeoff, he felt sure his friends would walk out fine.

当戈希尔听说飞机起飞后不久就坠毁时，他坚信他的朋友们会安然无恙。

He called Patel, who climbed down from his upstairs room to watch the flames on TV with Pooja’s parents.

他给帕特尔打了电话，帕特尔从楼上的房间下来，和普贾的父母一起在电视上看着熊熊燃烧的火焰。

Within hours, hopes dimmed. There was only one survivor, his escape a miracle.

几个小时内，希望破灭了。事故中只有一名幸存者，能逃生堪称奇迹。

For the next five days, Patel waited numbly in Ahmedabad Civil Hospital while authorities conducted DNA testing to identify bodies. He and Pooja’s father gave samples of their blood for DNA testing.

接下来的五天里，帕特尔麻木地在艾哈迈达巴德民事医院等待，当局在那里进行DNA检测以确认遗体身份。他和普贾的父亲都提供了血液样本用于DNA检测。

On the third day after the crash, Patel received a phone call that Harshit’s body had been identified. Pooja’s still had not. He resolved to stay until he could take both of them home.

空难发生后的第三天，帕特尔接到电话，得知哈什特的遗体已被确认身份。但普贾的遗体还未找到。他下定决心，一定要等到能把两人都带回家。

As he waited, Patel often sank into himself, his large frame slouched and lost. Though he was accompanied by relatives on most days, he seemed to find little peace, repeating to strangers that his wife had died of breast cancer and that he had no one left.

等待期间，帕特尔常常陷入迷茫，高大的身躯萎靡着，茫然失神。虽然大多数日子里都有亲戚陪伴，但他似乎难以得到安宁，他会向陌生人反复说起，他的妻子已经死于乳腺癌，现在他一无所有了。

His solitude was not merely physical. Many in Patel’s extended family had ascended to the middle class and no longer had to travel to find work. Frequent dislocation meant his life centered on tighter circles — his immediate family and a small number of friends who understood the hardship and uncertainty he had faced.

他的孤独不仅仅是身体上的。帕特尔的许多远亲已经跻身中产阶级，不再需要外出找工作。而他频繁的漂泊经历意味着他的生活圈子很小——只有直系亲属和少数几个理解他的艰辛与惶恐的朋友。

“Whoever has been close to me, God has taken them away,” Patel said one day, in tears. “Uma was close to me. God snatched her away. Radhi was close. She married and left. Harshit and Pooja were close. Now they are also gone.”

“所有和我亲近的人，都被神带走了，”有一天，帕特尔泪流满面地说，“乌玛和我亲近，神把她夺走了。拉迪和我亲近，她结婚离开了。哈什特和普贾和我亲近，现在他们也走了。”

On the fifth day, Pooja’s body was finally identified. Her father returned for the first time since submitting his DNA sample. He and his wife had been bedridden with shock.

第五天，普贾的遗体终于得到确认。她的父亲自从提交了DNA样本后第一次回家。这场惊天变故令他和妻子卧床不起。

The family was allowed into the room where the remains were kept. Patel tearfully hugged and kissed the coffins.

家人获准进入存放遗体的房间。泪流满面的帕特尔拥抱亲吻了棺材。

A police van led the way for the two ambulances that carried the bodies home. About 100 people gathered near the house to see them before they were cremated.

一辆警车为两辆运送遗体的救护车开道，将他们送回家。大约100人聚集在房子附近，在遗体火化前见他们最后一面。

Later, at the crematory, the ashes were brought out and handed to Patel — first Harshit’s, then Pooja’s.

之后，在火葬场，骨灰被取出来交给帕特尔——先是哈什特的，然后是普贾的。

Pointing to the containers, Patel said, “They’ve left me only this.”

帕特尔指着骨灰盒说：“这是他们唯一留给我的东西。”