In a tiny one-room-kitchen flat in Kanjurmarg, 19-year-old Akash Parab is sitting on the bed studying for his final exams, which are a month away. He has been spending most of his days on the bed since October last year, after he was discharged from KEM Hospital. Akash is among the 36 people injured in the Elphinstone Road stampede. His brother, Rohit (11), was the youngest life claimed by the tragedy.
Akash is one of three stampede victims who is yet to receive compensation for his injuries. He was unable to attend the Railway Tribunal hearing last week, and the tribunal will now send an official to his residence. “I am still unable to walk properly,” said Akash, who has been using a walker to move around the house for the past few months.
The family got ₹8 lakh as compensation for Rohit’s loss. “No amount of money can bring him back. When people older than you die, you somehow console yourself. But how do you do that with your own child?” said Ankita Parab, Akash and Rohit’s mother, struggling to hold back tears.
Akash and Rohit were on their way to the flower market at Elphinstone Road when all hell broke loose on the foot overbridge. Akash said he does not like to recall the incident, but sometimes the memories flood back. “It wouldn’t have happened had people helped immediately. I was at the edge of the bridge with my brother, and I saw people clicking photos instead of helping.”
Striving forward
Ever since, the family has been trying to cope with the tragedy. Ms. Parab had to quit her job with a security agency to look after her son. “They asked me to join a month later, but I was in no condition to join work,” she said. “They don’t have a vacancy for an eight-hour shift, and I can’t do a twelve-hour shift. I can’t just leave my son. He is all I have now.”
Akash’s father, who has a flower stall, is the only earning member of the family. “It’s not like a salary, where you know you get a fixed income every month. Festivals are the only time he makes money,” said Ms. Parab, who said her husband was also taking up painting jobs.
After being discharged in October, Akash was bedridden for two months with a severe fracture to his right hip. Going to the toilet became a huge issue, as back then the family lived in a chawl with a common toilet. “We had to tie sarees and towels to make an enclosure outside the house every day,” said Ms. Parab. They moved into a flat with an attached toilet in Kanjurmarg two months ago, and are paying ₹9,000 per month, twice of what we were paying in the chawl. “But we had to do it,” said Ms. Parab.
In isolation
Life has been extremely lonely for Akash, who is a second year B.Com student of DAV College in Bhandup. He has not gone to college, and hardly goes out of the house. He has no friends in the new locality. “All my college friends come from different parts of the city, and they are also busy with their schedules. But they keep my spirits up through WhatsApp chats,” he said. He refers to YouTube videos and online notes to prepare for his exams, which start on April 24.
His mother is concerned about his health. “I worry he may never be able to walk properly. This is not the age to be sitting at home all day, and he has only me for company,” she said. “It will be all right if they don’t give us money, but assure my son of a job. That’s what we had asked for initially. I want his future to be secured.”
