From Hyderabad, a Tale of Two Snack Bars

Courtesy of Raksha Kumar Gokul Chat Bhandar owned by Premchand Vijayavarg, in Koti, Hyderabad, on Feb. 24.

HYDERABAD, Andhra Pradeshâ€" On Thursday, when Bakka Reddy, 23, was busy at work at Mirchi Point, a snack bar near Venkatadri Theater in Dilsukh Nagar, he heard an explosion.

It was a homemade bomb that had been tied to a bicycle parked near Konark Theater. Just two minutes later, a bomb went off in front of his shop.

“Look at his face,” said his sister P. Yamuna during an interview at Kamala Hospital, Dilsukhnagar, on Sunday. “After two days, he still looks bewildered.”

Courtesy of Raksha Kumar Bakka Reddy at Kamala Hospital, Dilsukhnagar, Hyderabad, on Feb. 24.

Mr. Reddy, who was lying on a hospital bed, can barely move. He can see everything, but can’t hear or fully comprehend anything, his sister said. “He was lucky to have been behind the counter,” she said. “That saved his life.” Mr. Reddy’s job was to fry snacks, so she presumed that’s what he was doing on that day.

When they heard about the blasts on television, Mr. Reddy’s family was convinced he was dead. For almost 24 hours, they looked for his body in the morgues of various hospitals, his sister said. On Friday night, they found him lying in a room on the sixth floor ! of Kamala Hospital.

Rescuers who brought Mr. Reddy to Kamala Hospital in Dilsukhnagar told the doctors that Mr. Reddy was saved by the dead bodies that fell on him, blunting the impact of shrapnel and the heat of the explosion. “I would say the people who died saved my brother’s life,” said Mrs. Yamuna.

Mr. Reddy underwent surgeries in the past two days on his legs and right hand. He will receive 50,000 rupees ($930) from the prime minister’s Relief Fund, which was set up by the central government to provide relief for victims of major accidents and terror attacks. But as the only earning member of his immediate family, his troubled times have only begun.

Pandu Reddy, who owns Mirchi Point, is Bakka Reddy’s brother-in-law. He wasn’t in town on the day the bombs exploded. He estimated that his losses have already added up to 400,000 rupees because his ice cream machine, various utensils and the interior of the shop itself has been destroyed. “That is how much I would earn in to years,” he said.

The police have cordoned off his shop for evidence collection and inspection, so he has no way to start running the place again.

Courtesy of Raksha Kumar Premchand Vijayvarg, left, at his shop in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, in this Feb. 24, 2013, photo.

All of this is déjà vu for 59-year-old Premchand Vijayavarg, the owner of Gokul Chat Bhandar, a famous snack bar in Koti, Hyderabad. One of the bombs in an August 2007 attack went off in his overcrowded shop, killing 32 people and injuring hundreds of ot! hers.

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While Mr. Vijayavarg was not one of the injured, his nephew, Puneet Vijayavarg, now 35, was. The younger Mr. Vijayavarg was sitting at the cash counter, where the bomb was placed. He walks around with minute shrapnel in his heart even today, said his uncle.

“Several doctors recommended that we go to the United States for surgery, but gave us a slight chance of a successful operation,” said the elder Mr. Vijayavarg. “We saw no point in that.” His nephew still comes to the shop and handles the cash counter from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.

It took the Vijayavargs more than three months to get possession of their shop, which was confiscated by the police for evidence. The family didn’t work at all for that time, said the elder Mr. Vijayavarg. He declined to reveal his average annual earnings, but his snack joint is very famous and has existed for more than 35 years. Surviving three months of unemployment did not put a heavy financial strain on them, he conceded.

In contrast, if Mr. Reddyâ€s family doesn’t work for three months, they may have nothing to eat. They come from a small village in Karimnagar District in Andhra Pradesh, and the shop was their only source of livelihood.

Maninderjeet Singh Bitta, chairman of the nonprofit All India Anti Terrorist Front, works with the families of victims of terror attacks. He said that the government does a bad job of following up on the situation of these victims. “These people die or are injured because the government failed to ensure security,” said Mr. Bitta, “therefore the government should follow up on a terror victim until he is able to earn a living for himself.”

It took Mr. Bitta almost 12 years to ensure that the 18 injured during the Indian Parliament attack of 2001 were able to make a living, he said. He managed to provide them with employment at gasoline stations across Delhi.

For now, Bakka Reddy’s treatment is being financed by the government. Doctors say he might be able to go home in three months, ! but his h! earing will remain impaired.

“While I sometimes think my brother was lucky that he was saved, my mother thinks he would have rather died than live a life full of physical disabilities,” Mrs. Yamuna said.