Families of boat tragedy victims have not come to terms with the loss

KOCHI: On Thursday, when the city celebrated Eid al-Adha, there were a few homes where the mood was far from festive.For the victims of August 26 ferry boat tragedy , this Eid was a painful one.
In Kunnumpuram, Fort Kochi, P H Ashraf sat across an empty chair at the dining table. He hasn't eaten a morsel since the previous night. “The neightbours have been offering me food, but I can't eat.Not without her. I remember everything that happened that day , down to the smallest detail. Beevi had just returned from her family home in Edavanakkad when her sister informed her that a relative had passed away . She had to attend the funeral at 11.30am. So, she cooked the meal and even ironed extra shirts and pants for me before leaving,“ says Ashraf, husband of Beevi, who passed away in the ferry accident.
Beevi and Ashraf, or ` Achu' as she fondly called him, were married for 21 years. They had no children and were each other's company . “These days, I work from 6am to 11pm. I hate coming home because every crack and crevice in this house holds memories of her,“ he says with tears in his eyes.
In another home in New Road, Mattancherry , Sajeena, the wife of Sudheer, sits in a dark room reciting `dhikr' (prayers). “On October 4, it will by 40 days since his death. I don't know how the days have passed. In the initial years of our marriage, we lost our firstborn daughter and I thought that I may feel no greater pain than that. But losing a man you've spent 15 years with, that too without any warning, without any chance to even saying goodbye... Allah has taken him to a better place perhaps,“ she says. His son Sulfikar was running around the house, still unaware of the permanence of his father's absence. In Palluruthy , Nizar, husband of Fauzia, has moved back to his family so that they can help to raise his threeyear-old son Rehan, who has developed a phobia for water and wakes up at night crying in fear. Saturday will be one month since the day of the accident and officials have completed handing out solatiums and visiting the bereaved families of 11 passengers of the illfated ferry . But they are still coming to terms with the loss of their loved ones.