Mangalore: Victim's Near and Dear Ones Recall 7/11 Trauma
Courtesy: Ronald Anil Fernandes / Deccan Herald
Remembering 7/11
Mangalore, Jul 12: Action Aid Programme manager Jayaprakash P Soans was returning home after bidding adieu to his colleagues in his ActionAid office in Mumbai after serving for 9 years, as he was transferred to Bangalore. However, little did he know that he will be bidding adieu to his life minutes later in the bizarre 7/11 train blast that rocked Mumbai last year.
Jayaprakash Soans
Recalling the horrible incident with Deccan Herald exactly after one year, Soans’ eldest son Jovial Soans (who was in Udupi on Wednesday, but continues to work in Mumabi in a recording studio) said that his father and mother had returned to Mumbai from Bangalore (after shifting all the luggage to Bangalore) on July 9 to complete some unfinished work and July 11 was the last day in his office. “In fact, my parents had booked ticket on July 12 to Bangalore,” he recalls.
“I was returning home from my office when I heard a loud noise in Thar station but didn’t pay much attention to it. However, only after reaching home (he was staying at Thar with his friends) and switching on the television, I learnt of the blast and I immediately called my mother at Vasai to check whether my father had reached home. She was surprised (as I had never asked her whether my father had reached home) and wanted to know why I was asking her. I told her that there was blast in the train which my father used to travel everyday, but there is nothing to worry.”
“She could not even switch on the TV as all the luggage was shifted to Bangalore and she was making last minute preparations to leave Mumbai.”
"However, around 10.30 pm, my mother got a call from Bhagawathi hospital and they asked my mother to rush to hospital without asking any questions.”
“Since the hospital was very far from Vasai and she could not contact me (as all telephone lines were jammed), she called my uncle who in turn called me and I rushed to the hospital and I was asked to identify the body out of the 30 odd bodies lying in the hospital.”
“My worst fears came true when I recognised my father’s body,” Jovial Soans said. “After all the paper work, the body was handed over to us around 6.30 am on the following day.” When queried about the blast incident, both Jovial and his mother Jennifer said: “We have no sense of anger.”
“I don’t understand why people resort to such incidents without knowing the consequences. In fact, we don’t hate the people behind the incident. I only wish they realise what they have done... and the gravity of the destruction,” Jovial added.
Remembering his association with Soans, Basel Mission Christian Association president Noel C Noronha said that Soans was the president of Coorge Organization for Rural Development and vice president of Basel Mission Christian Association among many other associations.
“Jaya spoke to me a week ago, before the blast, about his transfer back to Bangalore, and his keeness in reviving the social actvities and the Basel Mission Choir, and that they are all set to leave Mumbai,” Noronha said and added:
“Jaya gave his life for the sins of those religious fanatics. Religion has continued to show its ugly head. It is our religiosity which is separating man.”
(Soans was one of the victims of 7/11. He served in Christian Children Fund in Bangalore for 20 years and ActionAid for 9 years in Hyderabad, Chennai and Mumbai and was returning home on the last day of his office as he was transferred to Bangalore, when the blast claimed his life).
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