Death is the only proven truth in this mortal world. Mythology has personified death in many ancient scriptures and as per many books, it comes in various ways. If your time is up, it will manifest in the weirdest possible way, exactly like in the case of Parvati Bindhani and daughter Kandhei Bindhani who lost their lives in the trainwreck at Korei station in Jajpur Monday morning.
It was a busy morning and the winter chills had already kicked in. The Bindhani family with Parvati Bindhani, her daughter Kandhei, son Kanhu, son-in-law Balaram Bindhani and a 2.5-month-old granddaughter were all set to board a passenger train to Cuttack to conduct an MRI of Kandhei’s abdomen. She was recently diagnosed with an abdominal tumour and the doctor had advised her to conduct an MRI first.
But little did the family know, even with the advent of modern medical science which could have easily treated the benign tumour, Kandhei’s time was up and she would suffer such a tragic death. As luck would have it, her 2.5-month-old daughter was spared and she will have to grow up now without her mother.
Balaram, Kandhei’s husband said, “I was out of the waiting room at the Korei station with my baby daughter to buy biscuits for my wife, who along with her mother was inside. Suddenly a loud bomb explosion-like sound was heard from behind. I turned around and saw everything in shambles. Dust and smoke covered the platform and the waiting room was nowhere to be found. I scrambled towards the platform only to find the waiting room razed by the rampaging bogeys of the goods train, which after getting derailed, climbed over the platform and crashed into the waiting room and foot-over bridge.”
“I was gasping for words and wasn’t sure what to do with the baby in my arms. I anyhow composed myself and searched for my wife and mother-in-law frantically, only to find them unconscious. I knew, they were no more,” described Balram.
His eyes moistened, throat dry, and he was trying hard not to give in tears welling up in his eyes. But still, Balaram had the courage to narrate the incident to OTV.
“I waited for no one and pulled out my wife and mother-in-law from under the debris. My brother-in-law who was also in the vicinity, found me and helped me get my family to the Korei hospital, where the doctors declared both as brought dead,” Balaram said.
The ill-fated locomotive which wiped out half the Bindhani family, was an empty goods carriage moving towards Chhatrapur from Dongoaposi. Had the derailment happened a few minutes before or after, there wouldn’t have been a single loss of life. But it had to be just at the station where people were waiting to board trains. Apart from Parvati and Kandhei, there was another woman too who succumbed in the mishap, taking the death toll to 3.
per reports, Balaram has three children including a 2.5-month-old baby and as he spoke with OTV, it suddenly dawned upon him, he is now both the father and mother for his children and how alone he is in this world.
The baby, oblivious to the tragedy that has just been thrown at her, was sleeping like an angel and smiling, perhaps dreaming of her ‘late mother’.
(Reported By Sanjeev Nayak, OTV)