Kol gave us livelihood but took away my two sons

Kolkata: For years, Rajendra Ram from Munger in Bihar believed Kolkata was the city that provided for his family.But after the death of his two sons and a nephew in the Taratala warehouse crash on Wednesday, where they were working as labourers, he cannot bear the thought of staying.Like thousands of migrant labourers from Bihar, he travelled here in search of work, bringing his sons and nephew into the same trade that fed the family back home in Munger. They worked together, earned together and sent home whatever they could spare after paying rent and meeting their own expenses.Six people from his family, including himself, were working inside the warehouse at the time of the crash.“Why didn’t God kill me and keep my sons alive? I have lived my life, but they had their whole lives in front of them.

The Almighty has been very cruel,” said Rajendra after being discharged from hospital on Saturday, where he was treated for injuries sustained in the Taratala warehouse collapse.The accident claimed the lives of his two sons, Ghee Kumar, 17, and Munna Kumar, besides his nephew, Srichan Kumar. Another son, Manichand Kumar, who suffered serious injuries, was discharged with him. Another son, Sohid Kumar, was discharged earlier.

“It is difficult to come to terms with the loss of two children in an accident like this. I don’t think I will stay in Kolkata. The city gave me livelihood but took away my two sons. I’m too scared to return to Kolkata,” said Rajendra.The men who left home to earn a living were also the family’s breadwinners. Their daily wages sustained not just themselves but relatives waiting in their village.The family considered it a blessing that so many of them found work at the same site.

Staying together meant looking out for one another in an unfamiliar city while pooling their earnings to support the household in Bihar.“People ask why so many members of one family were working at the same place. The answer is that we are poor,” said Rohit. “We did not have any other option. In fact, when so many of our family members got work at the same site, we were happy that everybody would be together to take care of each other.”At Garden Reach, grief has settled over the family’s home of Hasnain Imam. His parents, wife and children are struggling to come to terms with the loss of Imam. Relatives and neighbours have been coming to console the family members. “He was also the only earning member of the family. So they are also staring at an uncertain future. His parents are too old to work now,” said Mohammad Mukeem, paternal uncle of Hasan Imam, 44.