‘Papa is hurt, there’s so much blood’: 4-year-old who saw his father die in Pahalgam massacre has never asked for him, mother shares pain
Even more shocking, their four-year-old child also witnessed this horrific attack. “He saw his father getting shot. Blood was splattered on both of us,” he told TOI. “He kept saying, ‘My father is injured, there is so much blood.'”
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‘We balanced each other’
After the Pahalgam incident, Dr. Sujatha’s life has changed completely and only emptiness is left. “I lost my emotions… I lost my smile,” he says quietly. MBA graduate Bharath Bhushan completed his life as a doctor.
“He knew the world. I knew my patients. We balanced each other out. I no longer have emotional support.”
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He keeps her photo in his clinic, believing that her presence guides his decisions. But the attack continues to haunt him to this day. “I keep myself busy from morning to night to cope. If I’m idle, my thoughts drift to that scene,” he said. “That moment is more valuable than all the happiness we shared.”
Sundays are just for the son
Despite long working hours in hospitals and freelance consultancy services, he devotes Sundays to his son. “I deliberately kept Sundays free. He needs me.”
The 4-year-old boy did not call his father once after the incident. “He’s very calm, like his father. He doesn’t throw tantrums when I’m not there. Only when he’s around me when I’m at home,” he says with a slight smile. “I’m grateful to him for being such a good boy.”
Gradually, it helped him understand the loss. “He knows that his father is no more. I continue to take care of him, play with him and teach him. My family supports me very much.”
Dr Sujhata narrates the horror of Pahalagam
Recalling the Pahalgam terror attack, Dr Sujatha said that she was not much worried when she first heard the sound. “At first, we thought it was crackers. Then I thought the security personnel would handle it, but there was no security in that area. There was not even a single person. If there had been even a single armed guard, this situation could have been prevented.” “These attackers are being brainwashed into believing that what they are doing is right. Something needs to change. I don’t know how, but it can’t go on like this.”
“I am always alert, even while driving I look around. Not ahead, but in the trees and around corners, wondering if someone is targeting us,” he told TOI. When asked to revisit a memory with her husband, she says it would be their wedding day. “I was so happy. I asked him, ‘How could you choose me?’ “I kept asking.” They had been married for six years when Pahalgam happened. “I pushed myself to keep going,” he says. “But the loss is always there.”
(With TOI entries)
