Tomorrow, it will be two years since two powerful blasts tore through the Sankatmochan temple and the railway station in Varanasi, bringing death to 18 homes. But one single act by one of the families hit by the terror strikes has given new life to two homes, one in Nizamabad in eastern UP and another in Jamalpur in Bihar.

Railway inquiry-cum-reservation clerk Sushil Upadhyaya, who’s still to come to terms with the death of his 20-year-old son Ritesh in the Sankatmochan blast, donated his son’s eyes. That one act helped a two-year-old girl and an elderly woman — both had vision in only one eye — recover full vision.

Ritesh, an amateur photographer, had gone to the temple on March 7, 2006 with professional lensman Harish Bijlani and brother Rajesh to film a marriage being held there. When the blast took place, Bijlani died instantly and Ritesh sustained multiple injuries in the head, stomach and legs. He died of internal bleeding at the Banaras Hindu University (BHU) hospital 16 days later.

“It was an irreparable loss, a great shock. The family had lost its most loving son. But we all decided we will make Ritesh live,” Upadhyaya told The Indian Express. “Two days before he died, we were told by doctors that the chances of my son’s survival were very remote. This made me think. We decided, and it was a bold decision, to donate his eyes. It would help those who can’t see.”

After Ritesh died, his eyes went to the two-year-old daughter of a national award-winning potter from Nizamabad (Azamgarh) and an elderly woman from Jamalpur, Upadhyaya said.

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