Friday November 26, 2010
Pain of losing loved one in Mumbai terror attacks haunts victim’s kin
By REENA NATHAN
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PETALING JAYA: Every Nov 27, S. Nishalini and S. Dhinesh say a silent prayer for their mother Hemalatha Kasippillai. Hemalatha was a victim of the terrorist attacks on the Taj Mahal Palace and Tower Hotel in Mumbai, India in 2008. Two years have passed but the pain is still very real for the siblings who are studying medicine at Volgograd State Medical University (VSMU) in Russia.
Sad memories: A picture of Dhinesh with his mother, Hemalatha, who was killed in the terrorist attacks in Mumbai two years ago.
Dhinesh, 20, said in an SMS interview that he had learnt to move on but it still hurts when he sees a photograph of his mother. “I always think to myself what ‘Amma’ (mum) would say if I could talk to her today,” said Dhinesh. “It saddens me to know that she won’t see me graduate and be a doctor.
She gave me and my sister everything we needed in life. For that, we are very grateful.” Nishalini, 21, finds it harder to cope. “I am coping better than I would if I was still in Malaysia. Back home, I would always be reminded of her death,” she said. “I miss her a lot and I still cry sometimes when I think of her and how she was so terribly snatched away from us.”
Hemalatha, 51, who was on a business trip to the city, was staying at the Taj Mahal Palace and Tower Hotel, one of two hotels which were attacked by gunmen. The attacks resulted in the deaths of 179 people, 22 of whom were foreigners. The terrorists also attacked the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, one of India’s busiest railway stations and a Unesco heritage site.
Hemalatha was at the hotel with two German colleagues, Dieter Kroll and Ken Sennewald. She died from smoke suffocation. Her elder brother, Kalaiselvan, 58, said her death was fated. “I saw the hotel on fire on CNN,” said Kalaiselvan on Wednesday, his voice cracking with emotion. “She told my sister Malathi a few days earlier that if anything were to happen to her (Hema), we were to take care of her children.”
According to him, his mother, who is 81 and suffering from Alzheimer’s, has a vague memory of what happened to her daughter. When Kalaiselvan asked her how she felt at the time, she said Hema was still alive and only understood that her daughter had died after being shown newspaper reports of the event.
Another brother, Ratna Rajah, 57, added that there had also been problems in bringing his sister’s body home for the last rites and funeral and claimed there was little government assistance. The second anniversary prayers for Hemalatha’s death will be held at the Sri Kandaswamy Temple in Jalan Scott, Brickfields on Sunday.
