Mrinmoyee’s father with a photograph of his daughter and son-in-law and (above) Shyamal Kumar Basu, Mazumdar’s brother-in-law, watches news from Kashmir on television. Pictures by Soumen Bhattacharjee and Amit Datta

“Are you okay?”

“Yes.”

“How’s the pain?”

“I can hardly speak?.”

A few seconds’ conversation with his wife on the mobile was all that Sujay Datta could manage this afternoon as he lay writhing in pain on his hospital bed.

Wednesday’s grenade attack had left him separated from his wife and other family members, who have been admitted to different hospitals. The chartered accountant had a hard time trying to gather news about them from his bed at SMHS Hospital in Srinagar.

“I was with my wife near the back of the bus, sitting next to a window. We had had a great time at Sonamarg and were on our way back to our hotel when it happened in a flash. I just blacked out,” Sujay said over the phone from his hospital bed today.

“When I came to, I found myself on the road, my left leg covered in blood. An auto-rickshaw driver rushed to my help. I must say that all through, the local people have been extremely helpful.”

It was only this morning that Sujay learnt his wife Sumona had had surgery on both legs at SKIMS Hospital.

His parents and parents-in-law, too, were travelling with the couple. “My father Swaraj Datta received splinter injuries and had an operation last night. He is still in the ICU since the doctors aren’t willing to take chances. I’ve been told that both my mother and mother-in-law are fine,” Sujay said. His father-in-law had suffered minor injuries and was to be released from hospital today.

The Dattas, who had left their home in Kasba on May 22, had planned to spend a few days in Amritsar, too. But now, it’s a wait for recovery. “I’m not sure when we can move out of this place,” Sujay said.

“We visited several sites, including Vaishnodevi and Pahalgam. Things were going very well till this attack happened. I’m not sure if we’ll think of visiting Kashmir again,” Sujay trailed off.

It was the lure of the perfect honeymoon that had drawn Sisir Chakraborty, 28, and Mrinmoyee Chakraborty, 22, to Kashmir. Sisir, a high school teacher, is badly injured in his right leg and needed a major operation while Mrinmoyee has shrapnel in both legs, said Mrinmoyee’s father Subhash Kanti Boral, 67, of Uluberia.

The couple, who married on May 1, had set out from their home in Panchla, Howrah, on May 27 and reached Jammu by train two days later. The Borals heard about the grenade attacks from a local boy and then saw their injured daughter on television yesterday. The elderly couple stayed glued to the box while trying frantically to reach their only daughter.

“Then, around 9.30 last night, Mrinmoyee called up from SMHS Hospital in Srinagar,” Subhash said. “I’m too old to rush to Kashmir, the government should take the responsibility of bringing the injured back.”

Ila Debnath, 16, needed a break after her Madhyamik exams and had been looking forward to this trip. Today, lying in a bed at SMHS Hospital, she just wants to come back home. “She took as many as five splinters in her right leg,” said nephew Surojit Debnath at Ila’s home in Belgharia. Her parents also suffered leg wounds.

Phulu Roy, 55 (hospital records in Srinagar say she is 63), and Anuradha Sarkar, 56, neighbours in Belgharia, had headed to the mountains on their own, taking a break from family life. Their short-lived freedom turned into a nightmare on Wednesday when Phulu was riddled with splinters around her right knee.

“The hospital told us she is stable but they can’t let her go yet,” Phulu’s daughter-in-law Papiya Roy said.

Anuradha, however, returned to her hotel yesterday with bandages on both feet. “I’m still scared; I want to go back home,” she said from her room in Kohinoor Hotel near Dal Lake.

“My mother is in shock; she keeps saying she wants to come back,” her daughter Deepali said. “We’ve been told the state government is making arrangements to bring the injured back in a day or two.”

CPM members of Parliament Amitava Nandi and Sudhangshu Sil, in Srinagar for a House panel meeting, have visited the injured at the hospitals and hotels.

“The seriously injured will be flown back and the rest brought in buses to New Delhi from where they will board the Rajdhani Express,” Nandi said from Kashmir.

Pratik Chakraborty of Andul has no news of his parents ? Prasanta, 75, and Geeta, 65. He had a glimpse of his injured mother on television on Wednesday. “But since then I’ve had no news of them,” the 32-year-old said.

Barun Mazumdar, a former AIR newscaster, had left with five members of his family for a cool vacation. The grenade attack left his wife Bandana with a head injury. Barun is unhurt, said his brother-in-law Shyamal Basu, who is also his neighbour in Sibpur.

Basu had no news of Mazumdar’s elder son Bibhash who works with a newspaper, daughter-in-law Sushmita, grandchild Rima or younger son Swagata.

Soldiers patrol Dal Lake. (AFP)

One of the tourists injured in the alleged grenade attacks on two buses in Srinagar is categorised as “serious”. Swaraj Datta, 70, has multiple perforations in his lower abdomen. He is also a diabetic and has a history of hypertension. Datta is in the intensive care unit of Sardar Maharaja Hari Singh (SMHS) Hospital in Srinagar’s Karan Nagar. He is a resident of N.K. Ghosal Road, Kasba. Datta’s wife, Bithi, is not hurt.
For reasons easily understood, Srinagar’s hospitals have a number of doctors specialising in trauma care.

Following is a list of patients with notes about their injuries and the hospital each is admitted to. Some were being discharged this evening. Many are in a state of shock and are incoherent.

This list has been compiled from visits to the hospitals and also from the first reports of police. Because of a language problem, the police were not able to note down all names and addresses accurately. Details of the injuries of each patient were also not available. The Telegraph correspondent was the only one with whom the patients could communicate in Bengali.

Superintendent of police (tourism) M.S. Punoo said “most patients have been declared to be out of danger”. Punoo is visiting the hospitals. Jammu and Kashmir tourism department officials are also attending to the patients.

• Sumona Datta, 30, wife of Sujay Datta and daughter-in-law of Swaraj Datta. She is at Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences, Soura. Injured in both legs, Sumona went through a five-hour surgery. Amputation was contemplated but her mother-in-law pleaded with doctors and they are hoping for the best.
• Sujay Datta, 32, son of Swaraj Datta, a UCO Bank accounts department employee in the Park Street branch. He is at SMHS Hospital with pellet injuries in his left leg and a fracture in his left foot.
• Biplab Datta, Sumona’s father and an employee of Oberoi Palm Beach Hotel, Gopalpur, Orissa. He was injured in his right foot and is likely to be discharged from Bone and Joint Hospital, Barzulla, overnight.
• Tamali Naskar, 4. She is at Bone and Joint Hospital with injuries in both legs and right hand.
• Basudeb Naskar, Tamali’s father. He is admitted to Bone and Joint Hospital with right leg and thigh injury. He is likely to be discharged shortly. An employee in the postal accounts department, Dalhousie Square, Basudeb is a resident of Bamanghata near Bantala Leather Complex.
• Gayatri Naskar, 30, Tamali’s mother. She is at SMHS Hospital and has suffered leg injury, shock and minor splinter injuries in the body.
• Phulu Roy, 63. Injured in the right thigh and leg, she may be discharged shortly. She lives in Belgharia.
• Manashi Ghosh, 34, wife of Tapan Kumar Ghosh. She suffered splinter injuries in the body. Her husband and two children are unhurt.
• S.K. Debnath, who had splinter injuries in the forehead, has been discharged.
• Ashok Ghosh, son of the late Gouranga Ghosh from North 24-Parganas. He is at SMHS Hospital with leg injuries.
• Dinanath Ghosh, son of the late Shankar Kumar Ghosh, Agarpara. He was injured in a hand and right thigh.
• S.K. Manna, son of B.R. Manna, from Barrackpore
• Sushil Chakraborty, 40, son of Satyendra Chakraborty from Calcutta. He is at Bone and Joint Hospital.
• Renu Kar, 45, wife of Rajaram Kar from Calcutta. She is at Bone and Joint Hospital.
• Bijoy Das, 30. He is at Bone and Joint Hospital and is from Calcutta.
• Lakshman Chandra Naik, 56, son of Ramesh Chandra Naik. He is at Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences.
• Mehara Chakraborty, wife of Sushil Chakraborty, and is at Bone and Joint Hospital
• Durga Mandal, wife of Gopal Mandal from Calcutta. She is at Bone and Joint Hospital.
• Roma Datta, 17, daughter of Manu Datta. She is at the Bone and Joint Hospital.
• Reba Bairagi, 56, wife of Shankar Bairagi from Calcutta. She is at SMHS Hospital.
• Anuradha, wife of Anup Kumar Shankar from Calcutta.
• Sanjay Das, son of Bijoy Das from Calcutta.
All patients were first taken to SMHS Hospital. Several were discharged after first aid. From SMHS, patients were shifted to Bone and Joint Hospital and to Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences.