Back from Valley of death

The Vakharias and the Shahs had begun their holiday together on June 6. After a phone call home around noon, they had joined tables and were about to have their meal when a grenade was flung from outside. Around 40-50 people were dining at the dhaba at the time.

‘‘There was food and blood splattered all over the place and people were running around in panic when I managed to grab hold of my wife and kids and ran to safety,’’ recalls Nirav Vakharia (35), recovering at Lilavati Hospital along with his wife Purvi (32) and daughter Anushi (4).

He’s coherent despite the horror of the blast, which took the lives of his cousin Bhavesh (31) and children Hardeep (8) and Neel (7), and the pieces of shrapnel stuck in his limbs. Bhavesh’s wife Rimple, who sustained serious injuries, has not been moved from the hospital at Kashmir.

‘‘Union Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad made good arrangements for medical aid as well as our return back to Mumbai for further treatment. There were even calls from the Gujarat government offering help,’’ says Nirav.

Nirav is pained that no one from the Maharashtra government even bothered to enquire about their well-being. His wife, still in shock, and daughter sustained injuries in the limbs and chest. Nirav and the deceased, Bhavesh, had been friends since childhood and had always gone for holidays together.

Despite the tragedy, everyone seems to be composed at Bhavesh’s Haji Bapu Road flat in Malad (East). Bhavesh’s father, Chandrakant Shah, clad in white pyjama kurta, is talking to mediapersons. His wife Chandraben stares silently ahead.

Kashmir has been a hotspot for the 460 Jain families who reside on Haji Bapu and Jeetendra road. Since May 1, around a hundred have visited the place. Others with bookings have now cancelled their tickets.

While Vakharia senior vows neither he nor any member of his family will ever step foot in Kashmir, Chandrakant Shah says: ‘‘I do not feel any hatred for the terrorists who did this to my family. It is their majboori. They are the victims of the political system, politicians and bad governance. If the government strengthens the rural economy, there will be no terrorists.’’