Bidadi tragedy: Father waits for boy's body

BIDADI: Nothing perhaps can be worse than waiting for your child's body to be fished out of water. From 7am, Bhaskar R stood in front of Neligudda lake waiting for his son's body. Almost 12 hours later, he was still waiting patiently. This civil contractor from Cholarpalya was in a state of shock after his son Jagadish drowned in the lake on Wednesday along with three of his friends.
What came as a greater shock was that his son was a smoker and consumed alcohol."I did not know he would drink. It was while talking to his friends that I got to know he was a chain-smoker too," said the father, trying to hold back his tears.
Bhaskar still doesn't have the exact version of the entire incident. "I spoke to the boys who survived. Each had a different story to tell. While some said they came by bus, others said they came by train. According to some, Manoj and Jagan (Jagadish) were drunk. They drowned as they lost balance. Another person told me all four were drunk in the group and drowned while saving the girl," Bhaskar told TOI.
Apart from Manoj, he did not know anyone else in the group that met with the accident. "Manoj used to visit our house occasionally. That's how I know him,'' he said.
The trip was planned as early as Tuesday, with Jagan taking the lead. "I did not want him to go, but he was persistent. I wanted him to prepare for his board exams," he said. The last time he spoke to his son was around 1.30pm on Wednesday when the group reached Bidadi.
The boy's mother, Nalini, is in a deep shock. "She's going hysterical. Our relatives are trying to console her."