Numbing numbers

When you write and read about terror attacks and deaths very often, it probably makes you insensitive.

When you write and read about terror attacks and deaths very often, it probably makes you insensitive. My fingers froze on the keyboard for a moment when that thought struck me, as I went about calculating the number of Gujaratis who had died in Tuesday8217;s blasts in Mumbai.

The official list from the hospitals didn8217;t match with news trickling in from friends and relatives of victims, who rushed to Mumbai from Gujarat. In the hurry to complete the story on time, check and confirm the facts, I almost became insensate. That is, until I picked up the phone to talk to the victims8217; relatives.

Many were beside themselves with grief; a family member or relative listed as injured was actually no more. A brother from Bhavnagar who rushed to Mumbai hoping to see his injured elder sibling was quietly directed to the morgue. A diamond worker8217;s family waited in Palanpur. Friends brought home his body. Apparently, social workers and rescue personnel who called from victims8217; mobile phones to inform relatives could not bring themselves to deliver the bad news. They just used terms like 8216;serious8217; or 8216;critical8217;.

I called several mobile numbers listed alongside the names of the injured, hoping that the owner would answer. When a lady answered Haresh Shah8217;s mobile, the words stuck in my mouth. What should I ask? Fortunately, Hareshbhai was recovering in a hospital but unable to speak or hear because his eardrums are still ringing after the sound of the explosion. But it was the voice of Harish Doshi8217;s daughter which drove the reality of Tuesday night8217;s tragedy home. She was broken and distraught and probably completely traumatised after seeing her hospitalised father8217;s condition. With that came the realisation that behind what were simple numbers to me, there were hundreds of people who were experiencing great suffering.

It is, of course, easy to get down to body count. This is not the first time that terror attacks or mishaps have occurred. When grenades were hurled on tourists in Srinagar in the last week of May, the body bags came to Surat. Eight pilgrims from Surendranagar died at the Gateway of India blast. A tourist bus overturned in Shimla and there was a pall of gloom in Vadodara.

But the Mumbai blasts were different. The high number of victims from Gujarat in Tuesday8217;s blasts was unnerving.