Pradeepan K.K., 48, stares at the intensive care unit of Aster Medicity hospital near Kalamassery in central Kerala, in a grief-stricken daze. Clutching a handkerchief soaked in tears, he recalls the moment when his world turned upside down.
On the morning of October 29, Pradeepan’s wife Saly and their three children — Praveen, Rahul, and Libina — left home to attend the annual three-day zonal meeting of Jehovah’s Witnesses, a millenarian Christian group, in Kalamassery, a municipal town located about 10 kilometres from Kochi city. They were there to pray and deliberate on the theme ‘exercise patience’.
Moments after the 2,000-odd attendees closed their eyes in prayer, two blasts ripped through the Zamra International Convention and Exhibition Centre. It was around 9.30 a.m. “People ran helter-skelter as thick black smoke billowed from the fire in the hall,” recalls Ashwin, 14, from Kalady in Thrissur district, who had travelled for 50 km to reach the centre.
