Author:
Publication: India Today
Date: September 29, 2008
URL: http://indiatoday.digitaltoday.in/index.php?option=com_content&Itemid=1&task=view&id=15629§ionid=30&issueid=72&latn=2
Introduction: Terror strikes across the country
leaving a trail of shattered homes, broken spirits and victims floating in
a forgotten limbo. They are left to pick up the pieces, long after the spotlights
have dimmed and the VIP visitors moved on.
============================
Amit Singh, 22, Student
Mumbai train blasts, July 11, 2006
What happened:
Severe brain injury and has been lying in a vegetated state since
He was returning home to Virar after collecting
admission forms for an MCA course when a bomb ripped through his train compartment.
Two years later, the commerce graduate lies strapped to his bed in the high-dependency
unit at Jaslok Hospital.
"He can feel our touch and hear us speak,
but he cannot react," says his mother Meena. The doctors have warned
that Amit might not be able to move around on his own, ever. But the parents,
reeling under a severe financial crunch, are still hopeful.
Amit's hospital bills are taken care of by
the government, but the family has already spent a huge amount on travelling
to be with their son. "We have exhausted our savings and desperately
need financial help," says Meena.
Despite newspaper features on every anniversary
of the blasts and visits by top politicians, the Singh family is yet to see
any light at the end of this dark journey.
============================
G. Sadashiva Reddy, 27, Design engineer
Hyderabad blasts, August 25, 2007
What happened:
Lying in the hospital in a vegetated state
"Is he alive or dead for us? You can
decide for yourself," says G. Vasantha, pointing to her younger son Sadashiva,
now a paraplegic with a damaged brain, who cannot speak, see through the left
eye, sit straight or have a meal.
But this is what timely medical attention
for five months could barely achieve for Sadashiva who has pellets inside
his head and body as a grim and poignant reminder of the deadly blast at the
popular eatery Gokul Chat.
His brother Srinivas approached Andhra Pradesh
Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy to extend the benefits-grant of Rs 5
lakh and a government job for next of kin.
In spite of an assurance by the chief minister
on December 18 last year and again on July 31 this year, the bureaucracy is
yet to find ways to deliver the benefits.
The family now depends on the income of his
father, Mohan Reddy, a low-ranked employee in a government-run printing press
in the city, to take care of Sadashiva. "We wait with hope even as blasts
in other cities remind us of how our dear one has been snatched away though
he is physically present with us," says Srinivas.
============================
Vinod Poddar, 43, Government employee
Delhi blasts, October 29, 2005
What happened:
Lost his right leg and his son. Daughter sustained serious injuries
On the evening of a pre-Diwali shopping frenzy
at Delhi's Sarojini Nagar market, an IED blast turned Vinod Poddar into a
human torch, blowing his right leg off and mangling his left arm.
Even as Poddar flailed about in the flames,
he watched his seven-year-old son Karan die and 13-year-old daughter Tanvi's
limbs turn into a bloody mess. It was the nearly two-year wait for the Rs
1 lakh compensation from the Delhi government, which went into paying for
a prosthetic limb.
Today, the sole bread-winner of a five-member
family, which includes his mother, worries about the cost of medical expenses
which are likely to stalk him like a ghost for the rest of his life.
"The dead suffer no pain," he philosophises.
"For survivors like us, every moment is agony. Each time I hear of a
blast, I just pray that the survivors don't have to undergo what I have gone
through."
============================
Sangita Patni, 26, Housewife
Ahmedabad serial blasts, July 26, 2008
What happened:
Lost her husband in the Ahmedabad blasts
It is now 50 days since Vijay Patni, 27, fell
victim to the bomb blasts while working as temporary ward boy in Ahmedabad
Civil Hospital, leaving behind a young wife, three small children and parents.
The joint family lived on Vijay's monthly
pay of Rs 2,500 besides the earnings of his parents, both of whom are small
vegetable vendors. Sangita has already received Rs 5 lakh as compensation
from the Gujarat Government.
She is expecting another Rs 3 lakh from the
Union Government. But the family asks, "Can money erase the scars left
behind by such a cruel death and that too engineered by fellow human beings?"
A deadly mix of anger and depression can clearly
be seen on the faces of his wife and parents. Says father Sonjibhai Patni,
59, who belongs to the brave Dataniya Vaghri community, "If the Government
can't hang these beasts in minimum possible time, then they should be handed
over to us. We Vaghris know how to deal with such monsters."
But on the face of Sangita, who lives with
her in-laws in a two-room chawl, depression is unmistakable. Says Sangita,
whose three children are aged between five and one year, "With these
children, how will I sustain for the rest of my life?"
