Close shave for family of seven

Deepkamal Kaur

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, October 21

It was a providential escape for the family of Rekha Devi, who along with her husband and five children had gone to enjoy Dasehra mela at Joda Phatak on Friday. She escaped with an injury on the back of her head. While she has five stitches on her head, everyone else in the family was unhurt.

A native of Bawalpur village in Bihar, she was standing with her husband and five children – son Sagar and daughters Khushi, Joti, Karishma and Karuna on the first of the three tracks near Jora Phatak when the killer Jalandhar-Amritsar DMU passed by.

“I just don’t know what happened. I remember having seen Howrah Express having crossed slowly from behind just a minute ago. I was quite ahead of it but standing on tracks towards Dhobi Ghat. Then suddenly I got a jerk and fell down on tracks. I got unconscious soon after. My family later told me that I got slightly pushed near tracks, perhaps because of the chaos. I was being taken to a private hospital when I regained consciousness. The first thing that I saw and felt relieved with was the sight of my husband and all my kids standing hale and hearty in front of me,” recalled Rekha Devi, whose husband works as a ticket seller Amrit Talkies Cinema Halls.

Rekha gets bouts of relief, anguish and sadness intermittently. “While I feel relieved to see my immediate family stand around me, I am more concerned about our close friends, also from Bihar, two of whom died and one injured,” said the brave woman.