The entrance of quarter No. DS1/2, Railway Colony in Hatia, has a faded rangoli. Though small, with an asbestos roof, the curtains are neat. South Eastern Railway employee Anup Hari and his wife Sunita, despite modest means, tried to bring up their three children Sonu, Subu and Monu as well as possible.
But, Wednesday's school bus mishap on Ranchi-Khunti Road shattered this happy family.
' Mera Monu chala gaya (My Monu has gone),' sobbed 38-year-old Sunita at home, surrounded by her relatives and two surviving children, on Thursday, a day after her last-born Monu was crushed near his school, Rise Academy, by the speeding bus of another cradle, Sapphire International School.
'A happy child. He was only 10 years old. He studied in Class IV, asked so many questions,' his mother started but stopped when her voice choked up.
His 14-year-old sister Subu (not Sobu as reported), who cycled him to school, had to watch the bus knock the boy down, the blood smeared bag on the ground.
'Everything was normal. We had breakfast prepared by mother. At 8am, we set off for school, which is only five or six minutes of cycling. I remember when I dropped him at Singh More, from where we crossed the road on foot and walked to school daily. Yesterday (Wednesday), he was almost hit by a bike. Then, the school bus came hurtling and hit Monu. All was over,' the girl's eyes filled up with tears.
'I fainted. I don't remember anything after that,' Subu, sitting beside mother Sunita, said on Thursday.
The teen's eyes were swollen. But, in a steady voice, she persuaded her mother to drink up some tea and finish a biscuit. 'She hasn't eaten anything since yesterday (Wednesday).'
'Wednesday passed by like a nightmare,' bereaved Anup said, eyes moist. 'This morning, I was recalling Monu's small things. Then, I realised he won't come back.'
On Wednesday, agitators who blocked the road after setting the killer bus as well as another one behind it ablaze, demanded monetary compensation for Monu.
'I don't want money,' said father Anup. 'I only want the education costs of Sonu, a student of Class X in Sanchal, Hesag, and Subu, an eighth grader at Rise Academy, to be borne by the school management of Sapphire. Monu wanted his didi and bhaiya to become engineers,' he said.
Sapphire International School remained closed on Thursday in the wake of Wednesday's accident. The school management's decision on compensation is awaited.
Bereaved father Anup's friends Satish Kumar and Sujit Kumar blamed the reckless driving of school buses on Ranchi-Khunti Road.
'There is no traffic post near Singh More where this accident occurred. Every morning, we see buses of Sapphire International School and Taurian World School (posh schools further down Ranchi-Khunti road) racing each other. Accidents are bound to occur. We request the Ranchi administration to deploy traffic police here and also arrange speed-breakers and a zebra crossing,' both said in unison.
Maternal grandparents Lakshmi Devi and Ratan Ram together said Monu was the baby of the family. 'Monu hamare naino ka tara tha (Monu was the apple of our eyes),' she said, hugging her daughter Sunita, whose biscuit remained uneaten.
