Pilla Kalavati, 30, wakes up at 5 a.m., just as she always has, but there’s been an overwhelming void in her life over the past couple of weeks. For years, her early mornings were dedicated to preparing breakfast and a warm lunchbox for her husband, Pilla Nagaraju, 40, before he left for work. Now, at the crack of dawn, the kitchen lies cold as she and the couple’s 10-year-old son grapple with the harsh reality of his sudden demise in the October 29 train accident in Andhra Pradesh’s Vizianagaram district that claimed 14 lives and left several injured.
For years before the accident, Nagaraju, a resident of Kapusambham village in Vizianagaram district of Andhra Pradesh, used to embark on a daily struggle that defined his life. Leaving home around 6.45 a.m., he would take an autorickshaw to reach the Garividi railway station, 10 kilometres away, to board the Palasa-Visakhapatnam passenger train no. 58531 at 7.41 a.m. The clang of steel, drone of machinery, and dusty precincts of a construction site in Visakhapatnam awaited him. He chose to make the arduous two-and-a-half-hour journey daily, as moving to the city along with his family was an expensive proposition.
Kalavati’s voice trembles with grief as she reflects on their circumstances: “Our village had no employment opportunities. That is why he took up a daily-wage job in Visakhapatnam.”
