LUDHIANA: Cradled in his aunt’s arms, an eight-month-old survivor of the Ludhiana gas disaster Monday lit the funeral pyre of his parents and grandmother, his baby face betraying no awareness of the tragedy of losing his immediate family the previous morning.
The boy’s aunt, his shadow since the Sunday morning shocker of 11 deaths caused by the spread of toxic gas in the city’s Giaspura neighbourhood, said she had been trying her best to keep him from missing his parents and grandmother. “He had bottled milk and didn’t cry much. He was running a mild fever, for which he took medicines. It’s overwhelming thinking about his future. His parents got married just three years ago,” said the aunt.
Relatives of the family, whose roots are in UP, have tentatively decided that the child will now live with a maternal aunt who stays nearby. The boy’s paternal uncle, who also survived the disaster, said he came to know about the three deaths in his family only after being discharged from hospital.
“My brother wished to give his infant son have a comfortable life and maybe become a police officer. I will try to fulfil his dream, giving my nephew the best of education so that he achieves his parents’ dream,” he said. The boy’s uncle recalled that he was attending to a customer in his family-run grocery store around 7am Sunday when the stench of noxious gas suddenly hit him. “The customer, a woman, wrapped a dupatta around her face. I drank some water and tried to climb the stairs of our house next door when I collapsed,” he said.
The 50-year-old said the last thing he remembers before losing consciousness is hearing voices screaming, “Pick him up and splash water on his face.” His brother, sister-in-law and mother had apparently stepped out to help him, only to fall victim to the toxic gas wafting in the air. A relative of the family saved the infant from potentially meeting the same fate. “The baby was unconscious, too, but my brother handed him over to someone else before collapsing. He’s still in hospital,” the relative said.
The boy’s aunt, his shadow since the Sunday morning shocker of 11 deaths caused by the spread of toxic gas in the city’s Giaspura neighbourhood, said she had been trying her best to keep him from missing his parents and grandmother. “He had bottled milk and didn’t cry much. He was running a mild fever, for which he took medicines. It’s overwhelming thinking about his future. His parents got married just three years ago,” said the aunt.
Relatives of the family, whose roots are in UP, have tentatively decided that the child will now live with a maternal aunt who stays nearby. The boy’s paternal uncle, who also survived the disaster, said he came to know about the three deaths in his family only after being discharged from hospital.
“My brother wished to give his infant son have a comfortable life and maybe become a police officer. I will try to fulfil his dream, giving my nephew the best of education so that he achieves his parents’ dream,” he said. The boy’s uncle recalled that he was attending to a customer in his family-run grocery store around 7am Sunday when the stench of noxious gas suddenly hit him. “The customer, a woman, wrapped a dupatta around her face. I drank some water and tried to climb the stairs of our house next door when I collapsed,” he said.
The 50-year-old said the last thing he remembers before losing consciousness is hearing voices screaming, “Pick him up and splash water on his face.” His brother, sister-in-law and mother had apparently stepped out to help him, only to fall victim to the toxic gas wafting in the air. A relative of the family saved the infant from potentially meeting the same fate. “The baby was unconscious, too, but my brother handed him over to someone else before collapsing. He’s still in hospital,” the relative said.