The sun set as candles were lit and a rhythmic Sikh prayer song carried on the breeze at Moorooka as hundreds gathered to pay tribute to the popular bus driver killed on Friday.
Bus drivers with black armbands, members from the Punjabi community and the wider community gathered to pay their respects to Manmeet Sharma, also known to many as Manmeet Alisher.
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A friend of Manmeet's told the crowd of candle-lit faces that his friend had lived up to his name, meaning "mine friend" in his language.
Manmeet Sharma was a couple of months into his job as a bus driver when he pulled up to a stop along the 125 route in Moorooka to pick up passengers.
He had been living in Australia for a number of years after immigrating from India and had forged a name for himself within the tight-knit Punjabi community as a singer, songwriter and actor.
Mr Sharma, the sibling to an elder brother and two sisters, was also due to marry next year, but that was cut short on Friday just after 9am as three passengers boarded his bus.
The 29-year-old was sitting behind the wheel when an "incendiary device" was thrown at him, burning him to death.
His driver's window burst as flames poured out, filling the bus with smoke as six people were freed from the back of the bus by taxi driver Aguek Nyok who had come down to the busy strip of shops for a haircut.
![Brisbane bus drivers were among those to pay respect to colleague Manmeet Sharma at a vigil at Moorooka on Saturday evening.](/web/20161030234724im_/http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/content/dam/images/g/s/d/t/f/k/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gsdrb2.png/1477854078993.jpg)
The passengers were taken to hospital for smoke inhalation.Â
Minister asked to protect bus drivers
Lord Mayor Graham Quirk was at the vigil along with Transport Minister Sterling Hinchcliffe and Councillor for Moorooka Steve Griffiths.
![Friends and bus drivers gathered at a vigil in Moorooka, Brisbane on Saturday night to pay their respects to Manmeet Sharma.](/web/20161030234724im_/http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/content/dam/images/g/s/d/t/a/0/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gsdrb2.png/1477751657787.jpg)
A fellow bus driver and friend of Manmeet called on Mr Hinchcliffe to take action to protect bus drivers across Brisbane.
"I would like to say to our honourable Transport Minister that if he can take more stringent action, so we don't lose some more men," he said.
![The news of Manmeet Sharma's horrible death had been kept from his parents In India.](/web/20161030234724im_/http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/content/dam/images/g/s/d/k/7/f/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gsdrb2.png/1477803252608.jpg)
"We are doing our duty carrying passengers."
Manmeet's elder brother Amit Alisher, who was flying over from India, was expected to be in Brisbane by Sunday.
Tejinder Dhaliwal was at the vigil and studied hospitality management with Manmeet in Punjab, India before they both came to Australia.
"He was a very calm person, he never got angry at all and he tried to joke with other people," he said.
"He didn't care about any caste system, he tried to be a natural person.
"I could not realise he is gone, I keep thinking he will come back."
A 48-year-old man was taken into custody at the scene on Friday and was later charged with one count each of murder and arson and 11 counts of attempted murder in relation to the incident.
The accused briefly appeared in Brisbane Arrests Court and will remain in custody until his case returns to court on November 21.