A life turned upside down in seconds

Lying on a solitary bed of the hospital, Krishna Rai Chowdhury was staring blankly at the ceiling. She avoids looking at the emptiness where her left leg had been, only a day ago. 

At the National Institute of Traumatology and Orthopedic Rehabilitation (NITOR) in Agargaon Krishna Rai will have to spend at least another week for treatment. Her life is saved, but at the cost of her left leg, which was crushed under the wheels of a city bus. 

There's an uncertainty, an emptiness, on her face.

Her retired husband, two offspring—a son and a daughter, all of their lives most certainly would take an unwanted turn – all owing to an accident that no one could foresee. Life as they knew has been disrupted. 

Her only son, Kaushik Chowdhury (27), was running around the corridors buying water and biscuits for his mother, or getting the necessary medicines as prescribed by the doctors.

Krishna, the 55-year old Assistant Manager of Bangladesh Inland Water Transportation Corporation (BIWTC) was on her way to cash her pay-check after lunch around 2pm on Tuesday.

With a loud screech, there was a crash. The foot over bridge at the Banglamotor intersection shook violently.

The telephone pole beside the bridge was emitting sparks; on the pavement was a bus belonging to Trust Transport Services, its driver and his helper in full retreat.
With all the recurring events going on, Krishna was lying on the ground. Like her fellow passerby, she was unaware of what was going on.

Picking herself up, she sat on the pavement trying to remove the cobwebs from her head. Looking down, she was struck with paranoia.

Her left leg below her knee has been severed up, just hanging by the skin owing to a bus driver who decided to floor the gas pedal on an empty road.

As the elderly lady was donned in pain and agony, she was at first taken to Holy Family Red Crescent Medical College Hospital and later shifted to NITOR after primary treatment.

Around 5pm in the afternoon, it was finally decided to amputate the leg, from knee down.

As per Dr. Md Abdur Rob, Professor, NITOR, after series of physiotherapy and further treatment, Krishna will be fitted with a prosthetic one.

As tears stream down her cheeks, she looks down where her left leg used to be. Though she has been assured a normal life, the assurances are nothing more than consolation.

The grief-stricken husband Radheshyam Chowdhury, a retired teacher, is caught between a rock and a hard place as he tries on bringing his wife's perpetrators to justice and at the same time, taking care of his wife's wellbeing.

For now, only God knows what lies ahead for this unfortunate family which was only a day or two ago as normal as you and I.