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Friday, Dec 26, 2008
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No ground beneath her feet

Rahi Gaikwad

Mumbai blast victim’s wife has a rough road ahead

— PHOTO: VIVEK BENDRE

RUDE SHOCK: Sanju Devi, wife of the taxi driver Fulchand Bhind, with her children Himanshu and Shivam in Mumbai.

MUMBAI: Sanju Devi, wife of taxi driver Fulchand Bhind, is in a hopeless situation to say the least. For the poor, illiterate, widowed mother of two small children, who hails from a small village called Dubaval in Phulpur tehsil of Allahabad district in Uttar Pradesh, life seems to have come to a standstill. Her husband, Fulchand, died in the bomb blast at Wadi Bunder in Mazagaon area on November 26, at 10. 45 p.m.

Mohammad Ajmal Amir, the arrested terrorist, and his partner, Mohammad Ismail, had planted the bomb on his taxi. Sanju Devi was in her village when the incident took place. She learnt of her husband’s death only on November 27.

Subhashchand Bhind, her brother-in-law and village acquaintances in Mumbai went on a painstaking search for Fulchand. First, they went to Ville Parle hearing of the taxi blast there. Next, they searched the hospitals.

Along with the help of the taxi owner, they went to the Byculla police station. “There we found his soiled driving licence and the number plate of the taxi. Then we went to another hospital [name withheld]. We identified him from his leg and a small part of his head,” says Akhilesh Kesarwani, an acquaintance. There was hardly anything remaining of his body.

Sanju Devi could not believe the news when Subhashchand told her. She thought he was joking as the two brothers had had a row a few days ago. In fact, on November 26 morning, Sanju Devi herself had argued with her husband on the phone. She desperately wanted him to come home. “For one and a half years, he had not come home. I was not keeping well. I needed medical care. I would tell him to take me to Mumbai,” she says in a feeble voice. Irritated over the matter, she happened to say that morning: “You will only come when I am dead.”

Fulchand was set to go home for a wedding function. He had a ticket for February 8. His children, five-year-old Himanshu and three-year-old Shivam are too young to understand the loss. “My father is dead,” Shivam parrots these words bluntly. “Earlier, he used to say my father drives a motor car,” says Sanju Devi. A hard struggle for survival lies ahead of Sanju Devi as she scrambles for relief with the sole breadwinner gone.

The Rs.5 lakh compensation cheque was sent to the village. Considering that the children have not even begun proper schooling, this money cannot go a long way. Some help has poured in from other quarters.

A well-wisher has come forth to look after the children’s education, proposing to pay for a boarding school in Allahabad.

Sanju Devi says she is willing to work. Sanju Devi had come to Mumbai for a brief period.

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