TNN
Bangalore, May 16: Kannada poet Nisar Ahmed, wife Shanawaz Begum, daughter-in-law Rumaan Naveed and his sister Dilshad escaped death by seconds in the Jaipur blasts on Tuesday. The family was shopping near Hanuman Mandir, one of the eight blast sites.
A shocked Ahmed, who returned with his family on Wednesday night, narrated his experience to TOI: "We had just come from Ajmer to Jaipur after offering prayers. Ajmer is a great spiritual site, known for peace, secularism and harmony. Was it a coincidence we'd come from Ajmer? Whatever it was, it must have been the blessings of the Almighty that we survived the blasts."
Ahmed had received the Padma Shri in New Delhi from President Prathibha Patil and along with his family had gone to Ajmer on Monday. After visiting the Ajmer dargah, Ahmed and his family arrived in Japiur on Tuesday evening and went around the city shopping.
At Hanuman Mandir, Shanawaz, Rumaan and Dilshad went shopping and Ahmed decided to have a cup of tea nearby and join them when they finished.
Ahmed went to a hotel about 400 metres from Hanuman Mandir at around 7.30 pm. Just as his family members came out of a shop, a blast ripped through the shopping centre. "The blast occurred just 8 feet from where my family was standing.
They saw bodies falling and blood all over the place. A cycle-rickshaw was smashed to pieces. They could feel the impact. Luckily, there were no nails or else anything could have happened to them."
On hearing the blast, Ahmed rushed to the Hanuman Mandir by car. By then, his wife, daughter-in-law and sister were running to the safety of the bylanes near the mandir. Ahmed was not allowed to enter the market area as the police had put up barricades and checking every lane and shop for miscreants.
The family members ran helter-skelter and were crossing a road when a second blast occurred a few metres away. Amazingly, they escaped unhurt a second time. "They were crying and running. They saw blood and people all over.
People were rushing away from the main areas. My family managed to run into some bylanes. It was a blind alley - they just had to get out. People were very kind - many showed them the way out. Finally, a mechanic offered them shelter," Ahmed said.
While Ahmed waited at one place, his family ran to safety in the opposite direction. He stayed put there for about two and a half hours due to police checking. The phone network had jammed and Ahmed could not contact his family. He called his relatives in Bangalore but they too had not received information. After nearly three hours, the network was restored and Ahmed managed to speak to his wife.
When the family was reunited, they hired a car to reach the Jaipur railway station in about three hours. "We had to cross so many bylanes and sometimes we went in the wrong lanes and had to reverse. We saw blood and bodies strewn all over. We just wanted to make our way out but the police had blocked all the main roads. We finally reached the station around 12.30 am on Wednesday."
At the station, Ahmed saw TV sets which were showing film songs. Ahmed rushed to the station master and berated him for airing film songs at a time when people had died in blasts so close to the station.
"I told him it was a shame that the Railways was showing film songs when people were dying and there was blood all over. Initially, he was reluctant to change it, but later agreed that passengers needed to be informed. In 10 minutes, he had announcements on all TV sets that all was not well in the city and precautions had to be taken."
Ahmed and family then took a train to Delhi and from there took a flight to Bangalore on Wednesday evening. "We have had a providential escape. I thank God for showing us kindness. It is sad that others had to die. I wish we live in the spirit of the Ajmer dargah."