Varanasi:
On Tuesday evening Swastika was at the Sheetla Ghaat with her mother to watch the Ganga aarti. Seven hours later, her body returned to the same ghaat to be immersed in the Ganga.
Swastika, the lone victim of the blast in Varanasi, would have turned two in 10 days. She was in her mother's lap when the blast occurred. Unable to stand the shock waves, an instant brain hemorrhage killed her.
"We were planning to celebrate her birthday with a lot of excitement on 18th," said her father Santosh Kumar Sharma.
Santosh, a lecturer in a local girls college, had wanted the best possible education for his only child.
"I had planned a good life for her, I am very sad. A few stones fell on my daughter when the blast occurred. My wife kept shouting but no one came to their rescue," he added.
The loss and helplessness is unthinkable for Kashinath Sharma, Swastika's grandfather. A compounder at the Marwari hospital, he was busy rushing the injured to the hospital but then tragedy struck his own family.
"I am a compounder in the hospital, but I was myself attending to those who were injured. But no one came to help me, I was struggling to get help at the BHU hospital," he said.
Ten days later when Swastika would have turned two, will be unbearable for the family.