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On the night of the disaster I had come with my husband and children to join a feast at my brother's place at Quazi Camp. We were coughing badly and I thought we will die. Then we found an auto rickshaw and the driver took us to Jehangirabad. We coughed and vomited all the way and our clothes were soiled. My daughter Shabana was four years old and she almost never stopped coughing since that night. She died after seven years. She used to get breathless and had pain in her stomach. No medicine worked. We spent so much money on the treatment of my daughter and husband there was hardly any left for other expenses. My husband too died with similar problems. My son Mehfooz Khan, thank the Lord, is physically okay. But something has happened inside his head. He is sixteen now but does not do any thing just sits in one place all day like he is lost somewhere. My other son Majid was one year old at the time of the gas. He has stomach problems all year round. A daughter, Rehana was born to me four years after the gas but strangely she has similar problems like us. She has fever all the time and her limbs get stiff and has spells of vomiting. The gas has changed our lives in so many ways. After my husband's death I started working as a house maid. I get only 100 rupees a month but they give me food too. Earlier we would have new clothes more than once a year, now we get to wear new clothes once in two-three years. The children used to go to private schools buying new books every year. Now my son goes to a government school and there is no money to buy books. I am really tired of taking medicines. Every time I take some pills in my hand I get in to a panic that I have to put them in my mouth. Even otherwise I get sudden panic attacks. My knees hurt a lot and my back aches all the time. I went to the government hospital and took treatment for a month there. But it didn't do me any good. Then my sister told me to go to Sambhavna Clinic. At Sambhavna I was treated with massage therapy. Now I can walk freely, though I am yet to be able to lift any weight. I am till under treatment and am hopeful that I will get alright without having to take any medicines. |