On July 11 last year, these women were helplessly scouring Mumbai’s hospitals in search of their husbands. But their worst nightmare was soon confirmed: the serial train blasts had taken the lives of their husbands.

A year later, they are picking up the pieces of their shattered lives and moving on, for the sake of their lives and their children’s.

Virar residents and friends Prawara Patil, 35, and Sandhya Naik, 36, have found jobs as indicator operators at Naigaon and Virar stations. The two are busy monitoring trains and making announcements the entire day.

While both were initially averse to taking up a job in the D Category thinking it would entail sweeping and cleaning, today they have come to terms with it. “How would I pay my bills?” asks Prawara, who lost her husband Nitin on that terrible Tuesday.

Sandhya seeks solace in her work. “It keeps me distracted and gainfully employed,” she says. Had she stayed at home, she knows that memories of husband Ranjan would continue to haunt her.

Making ends meet is difficult with Prawara’s Rs 5,000 salary. “But with the interest on the compensation and by cutting corners, we manage,” she says.

However, time with her 10-year-old daughter Aditi has become something of a luxury now. “I used to feed Aditi myself, but now there is no time to pamper her,” says the mother. When Prawara has to work night shifts, she hardly gets to see her daughter. “My neighbours make sure she has her meals once she is home, and the watchmen mind her when she is playing in the colony,” says Prawara.

... contd.