Srinagar: Inside the burn-unit of Srinagar’s SMHS hospital, Mohammad Yaqoob Mughal is watching the routine hospital rush with his weary face and anxious eyes. He’s sitting near a bed on which his teen son has been lying motionless for more than two months now.
With 55% burnt injuries, 18-year-old Rasikh Mughal is bandaged from head to heels.
Belonging to a small village in Sumlar area of north Kashmir’s Bandipoora district, Yaqoob moved to Srinagar almost 25 years back with his wife Zareena.
“I would go for the daily labour work in the city as in our village there was hardly any work,” says Yaqoob. “Due to extreme poverty I had to migrate from the village and look for opportunities to make a living for my family.”
Parents of four daughters and three sons, the couple is known for the hard work and honesty in the neighborhood of Maisuma in Srinagar, where they have been living on rent for more than two decades now.
“My wife Zareena does the daily dishes and other household things of the locals in the area to help the family earnings,” says Yaqoob.
Some locals in Maisuma have come up with monetary assistance for the family, although Yaqoob hasn’t asked anyone for it.
As the family needs more financial assistance, the local fundraisers are now seeking the public donations for the boy, through his family’s personal saving bank account:
Ruksana
Account No. 0002040100035660
JK BANK
Matu Complex, Lal Chowk,Srinagar
This past March 23, Rasik had routinely tried to light the gas-stove at home. He was suddenly caught in flames as the burner blew up and the tragedy happened.
“By the savings made by me and Zareena, we had bought an auto for Rasikh which he had been driving for some time now,” says Yaqoob.
The three-wheeler has been sold to afford the treatment of Rasikh.
“His sister is to get married in November, and the savings are all gone too,” says Yaqoob, with tearful eyes.
According to doctors and the Medical reports, Rasikh is recovering but it will take him time to be good enough to go off the bed and be normal.
The family will have to keep going with the treatment while their financial condition is going from bad to worse.
