Mumbai: The relatives of victims and witnesses of the Mumbai terror attack have been hit hardest by fear and uncertainty. Even as they try and come to terms with their loss, they also have to tackle the fear that sets in.
It's for the ones who lost their family or friends in the attack who will need time to actually start living again.
Fear is what 25-year-old Sunita Yadav — a survivor who lost her husband to the attacks — has lived with for the past two weeks as she stares into nothingness. Only the antics of her three-month-old daughter Sheetal bring her back to the present and what lies ahead.
"Darr lagta hai (I'm scared)" says Sunita when she thinks of the Mumbai terror attack.
"Bas Sheetal ke bhavishya ke liye ab sochti hai (She only thinks of her daughter's future)" says her uncle, Ranendra.
Whether it's being a witness to the horror of 26/11 or worse still losing a loved one, for the victims, questions often evoke silence and a sense of listlessness. A sign of the intensity of their trauma.
Sunita was at the Chatrapati Shivaji Terminus waiting for her train to Varanasi when there was gunfire. Seconds later her husband had been shot dead Sunita scooped Sheetal in her arms and rushed for cover.
Little Sheetal thankfully survived, but with shrapnel lodged at the back of her head which doctors will be taking out when she's older.
Sunita is trying hard to beat the trauma of her loss as she says, "Mujhe Mumbai mein nahin rehna. UP jaakar kuch kaam kar loongi (I don't want to stay in Mumbai. I'll go to UP and find some work)."
Doctors at the hospital believe that Sunita's emotional scars will take long to heal.
"Sunita took time to even talk after the shock of the terror attack. But now she's slowly responding," says dean JJ Hospital, Dr B M Sabnis.
Like other victims of 26/11, Sunita is now trying to leave the past behind and live for her child's future.
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