Scarred and Scared, July 24 Haunts Them

They might have been discharged from hospitals and sent back to their homes.
Scarred and Scared, July 24 Haunts Them

Venkataipalle (Medak): They might have been discharged from hospitals and sent back to their homes. But the children, who survived the ghastly bus-train collision at an unmanned railway level crossing in Masaipet in Medak district on July 24, certainly are going to take time to come to terms with their lives. Unable to cope with the aftermath of the horrific mishap, many of them need their parents to stay beside them all the time. The very thought of a bus or a doctor for example sends shivers down their spines.

Four-year-old Shivaprasad from Venkataipalle has been admitted to the school only 12 days before the accident. Though he continues to love going back to school and meet with friends, the very images of the accident come back to haunt him. Sitting and watching ‘Animal Planet’ in the drawing room of a crammed house, he seems completely fine in the company of mother and elder sister.

However, he starts crying inconsolably the moment his mother gets going with household work. “He is scared of everybody. At night, he is not able to sleep because of fear. We are happy that he wants to go back to school,” says Neelamma, his mother. The family, however, strives to keep him occupied and busy so as to divert his mind. In the nearby house, five-year-old Sandeep, another survivor, sits cluelessly. He too would not let his mother leave him even for a second. He prefers not to talk to anyone or even respond to anything. But what pains him more is that with a plaster on his fractured right hand, he is not able to write. “He is a very stubborn boy. He does not take any medicine even when he screams in pain. Three of us have to forcefeed medicine to him,” says Kavitha, his mother.

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