For blast survivors, life is a serial test of courage

Geeta Vyas was talking about the day she lost her husband, Dushyant Vyas, and her elder son, Rohan.

“We learnt from the news on TV that there had been serial blasts in the city,” she said. “Like most people in Ahmedabad, we, too, had never thought that the civil hospital would also be hit. But when I heard that there had been a blast at the civil hospital, too, I was filled with fear as Rohan, Yash and their father had gone to the hospital. I….”

She could not go on as her voice choked with sobs and she began weeping quietly. Yash is Geeta Vyas’s younger son who is now 9 years old. He had suffered serious burn injuries in the blast that shook the civil hospital on July 26, 2007. Fortunately, he survived the blast and has now recovered after undergoing treatment for his wounds for almost one whole year.

Geeta Vyas and Yash are trying to put the tragedy behind them. Yash has returned to school while his mother is planning to take up a job at the Gujarat Cancer & Research Institute (Cancer Hospital) next Monday. She has been given the job (on compassionate ground) that her husband held at the Cancer Hospital before he died.

Talking about their life before the blasts, Geeta said, “Life is not as joyful as it was a year ago. I and my husband lived a quiet, happy life with our two sons and my mother-in-law. Rohan and Yash used to quarrel as children do. Now, Yash misses his elder brother as he has no one to play with.”

Geeta said that when her husband, Dushyant Vyas, was alive she felt they could win the world if they wanted too. “But now, in his absence, I feel very alone,” she said. “Members of my family, including my sister-in-law and brother-in-law, have all been very supportive. I try to be courageous for Yash’s sake but I miss Rohan and his father all the time.”