Thaindian News

New Delhi, Sep 13 (IANS) It was a blast that was literally deafening… a flash of terror that changed his life forever. Almost a week after the Delhi High Court blast, the 32-year-old lies in hospital, heavily bandaged and hugely scarred but with only one concern — that his mother not be told about his condition.

Still coming to terms with his injuries, the freelance photographer lies in bed in Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, his right leg in bandages after the pellet injuries from the bombing Sep 7 and shrapnel scars all over his hands and face.

He can talk but can’t hear. As tears roll down his cheeks, he frequently beckons his brother to say: “Please don’t tell mother I am here”.

The west Delhi resident, who doesn’t want his name to be publicised, is clearly suffering. But he doesn’t want his mother to undergo the same trauma.

“I don’t have the courage to make her a part of my suffering,” he says, gazing at the ceiling.

“I have told her that I have gone for some marriage shoot to Jaipur. She is too old to take this,” he says.

His message is conveyed to his friends and colleagues because few visitors are allowed into the restricted area.

A man whose wedding he captured for posterity is one of the attendants, who knows him as “the man who shot his life’s happy moments”.

“With this condition, we pray he gets a job where he can work from home. I know him as someone who has lived for his mother throughout his life,” Vishwas, 39, told IANS.

The photographer was brought to the central Delhi hospital in an unconscious condition when the powerful briefcase bomb exploded outside Delhi High Court’s busy Gate No 5. Thirteen people died in the blast while over 90 were injured.

The future is uncertain. There are multiple fractures on the right leg and doctors only say that it will take at least six months for him to stand on his feet.

“Doctors have tried to rejoin the right leg through a small joint. ‘Pata nahi kya hoga ab’ (I don’t know what will happen after this),” the young man says.

He recalls the moments of horror.

“I could see faces covered with soot all around when I woke up. I waved an ambulance to carry me. In a minute, everything was destroyed.

“I don’t know what will happen. I can’t be in a private job any more. I have lost my hearing power. Thank god I am not married. I am scared to think of what will happen to my mother,” he says, remembering the rented house he shares with her. The tears flow unchecked.

The devoted son looks fearfully at tomorrow. And somewhere in the city, a mother waits for him to come back home.