Families shattered by Gulf tragedy

JANAKPUR, July 4: Sanu, who has never seen her father, is unable to sense the tragedy that has befallen her family. She is only amazed at the number of people thronging her house since the last two days.[break] Sanu was born six months after Rajiv Dutta, 30, left for Qatar for work. Two and half-year-old Sanu has now lost her father in the Gulf ship tragedy that took place on June 30.



Sanu´s elder sister, who now studies in LKG, does not remember her father, whom she last saw three years ago. She was just a year old when he went abroad for work.


The late Dutta had learnt over the phone about Sanu´s birth. He had planned to give her a formal name at a function to be organized after he returned home. But the younger child in the family will now always be known as Sanu.



The only son in the family, Rajiv Dutta was not only supporting his wife and children but also looking after his elderly parents.



An employee with the Qatar-based HB Company for the past three years, Dutta was among the 12 Nepalis who died in the Gulf ship tragedy Tuesday.



Just a day before the tragedy, Dutta had talked to his father over the phone and said that he was returning home after three months. “He had told me he would come back to Nepal on a four-month leave and settle all debts here,” recalled his father Suryakant, 60.



Dutta´s parents had borrowed Rs 600,000 for dowry for their daughter´s marriage. And that loan is yet to be settled. Suryakant has asked the authorities concerned to help at least with some compensation as his son cannot be brought back to life.



Rajiv Dutta´s family claims that he is still alive as they find it hard to digest the reality. His spouse Asha Devi and mother Pushpa Devi still hope he is alive as the media has not yet mentioned the whereabouts of his body. “I talked to him over the phone only on Monday. He had told me he was coming soon,” recounted Pushpa Devi.



Similar is the situation of the family of Shesh Nath Yadav in Bagara VDC-6, Mahottari. Also a victim of the same tragedy, Yadav died even before three months since his departure from Nepal.



Yadav had left for Qatar after completing the last rites of his father, who died at age 65 some four months ago. “I lost my husband. There is now no son either,” said his mother Dil Toriya Devi, 60. Her younger son is currently working in Malaysia.



Yadav had told the family over the phone three days before the tragedy that he was sending Rs 100,000 within the same week. Father of two sons and one daughter, Yadav had enrolled them in a local boarding school before leaving for Qatar. The sons are aged 12 and 8 and the daughter is 10.