“Until 8 a.m., she was playing with her father. It was me who coaxed her to get ready for school,” recalled an inconsolable Pushpa, who lost her younger daughter, P. Anjali (6), yesterday in a freak accident.
Little Anjali was in a playful mood on Saturday morning and kept her father, Nagaiah, engaged with her antics. But Pushpa managed to coax her to get ready and hurriedly took Anjali and her elder sister, P. Shivani (7), towards the school bus just as the driver honked.
After boarding the mini-bus, the tot was trying to settle down in her seat on the second row, next to Shivani, when the driver, Narasimha, swerved the vehicle off the road to avoid a speed breaker. Anjali lost her balance, fell out of the bus and came under the left rear wheel.
The incident took place just 250 metres from their residence in Saheb Nagar of Vanasthalipuram.
It was only after bus attendant Lanka Gangadhar and the other students raised an alarm that Narasimha realised what had happened. Police said Mr. Gangadhar, who was standing on the foot-board of the bus, tried to save the girl by gripping her legs, but in vain.
“It was a real shock. None of us was aware what exactly had happened until I reached the hospital and saw my little one dead,” said a teary-eyed Nagaiah.
Since Pushpa and Nagaiah had never been to school, they wanted their children to be well educated. “Despite poverty, we admitted our children in a private school so that they could get quality education. But the school (bus driver’s carelessness) killed my daughter. She was clever and did well in exams,” said Pushpa.
The couple got migrated to Hyderabad from Garnakunta village in Nalgonda district six years ago. They work at a brick kiln near their house. “We earn not more than ₹400 a day,” Pushpa added.
