Headlines
At Kochi, a Keralite family weeps, an Afghan family is elated
By
Sanu GeorgeKochi, May 15
Strange are the ways of life as
is evident in this commercial capital of the state: a Keralite family is
weeping as one of its members was shot dead in Afghanistan, while in a
nearby hospital, an Afghan national is elated as he has got a new pair
of hands from a brain-dead Keralite.
The family members of
69-year-old chartered accountant Mathew George are awaiting the arrival
of his body after he was shot dead in Kabul on Wednesday night by
militants - one of four Indian victims of a Taliban attack at a cultural
event.
George, after retiring from Apollo Tyres three years ago,
just couldn't sit still and has been with a Delhi-based accounting firm
doing auditing work for the Afghan government.
"He was here in
January this year and had said that he will return in June after the
work that he has taken up in Afghanistan ends. On Wednesday night, his
son who works in Pune had spoken to him after hearing that trouble has
broken out in Kabul. He said he was hiding under a chair and his phone
went silent after an hour. The next morning, the Indian Embassy
informed that George was no more and had been killed in a terrorist
attack," a relative told the media here.
The body will arrive here Friday and the funeral has been fixed for Sunday as one son has to come from the US.
A
few kilometres away, at the Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences
(AIMS), 32-year-old Abdul Rahim, a former captain with the Afghan
security forces has now got a new pair of hands, thanks to a brain-dead
Keralite and to a team of doctors at the leading private hospital who
conducted the double transplant last month.
Subramania Iyer, the lead doctor of the team that conducted the transplant, said these are the vagaries of life.
"I
don't know if Rahim is aware of the killing of George. Life is like
this and our job is to do things what we are expected to do," Iyer told
IANS.
Iyer added that Rahim speaks with the help of an
interpreter and is likely to be discharged very soon as he is doing fine
with his new pair of hands.
Rahim was an expert in detecting and
defusing land mines. Two years ago, a mine he was defusing exploded and
left him without his hands. He came here earlier this year and was
lucky to get a donor.
(Sanu George can be contacted at [email protected])