coimbatore blasts: 20 years later, their scars remain | chennai news - times of india
Every time, 40-year-
Old R Rangaraj went through a metal detector at the train station and the machine began to beep.
\"It is very difficult for me to explain to the security guards that the metal fragments are inside me,\" Rangaraj said . \".
He refers to the metal fragments that exploded in the city of Coimbatore on February 14, 1998.
Rangaraj, the only breadwinner in his family, was seriously injured and has since lived with these pieces of metal.
Two months ago, he underwent surgery and took out a nail stuck to his ankle.
Rangaraj, who was a tailor at the town hall on 1998, said the bomb exploded around four o\'clock P. M. at Mohammed Khani Ravuthar Street near Kempatti Colony, when he was returning to work after lunch to ride a bicycle.
\"I was thrown off my bike.
When I opened my eyes after the explosion, I saw the bodies scattered around me.
I try to stand up.
But part of my left ankle was torn and a nerve on my right leg was damaged.
\"My body has also been pierced by explosive shrapnel in many places,\" Rangaraj said . \".
He was admitted to the Coimbatore Medical School and Hospital for treatment.
\"When another bomb exploded in the hospital, I was lying on the floor with hundreds of other people,\" he recalls . \".
Rangaraj spent two months in various hospitals.
\"I was 20 when the explosion happened and my life was out of order.
\"I can\'t go very fast and I can\'t fold my legs for a long time,\" he said . \".
After the explosion, Rangaraj lost his job in the tailor\'s department because he could not operate the sewing machine with his legs.
\"The metal sheet and the glass sheet stick to my body and some of them are not removed by the doctor who gave me surgery,\" he said . \".
As the father of two children, Rangaraj works today as a goldsmith, waiting to overcome the shock of the event.
Rangaraj\'s family was lucky that he was still alive, but in this incident many people lost their families and heirs.
One of these parents is Vijayalakhsmi, his 15-year-
Son lamakrishnan was killed in an explosion in the kempati colony.
Class 9 student Ramakrishnan played in front of his house and he heard the first explosion around four o\'clock P. M.
He thought it was an explosion. When another bomb exploded, he rushed to the scene.
\"I was in the house when the explosion happened.
I ran to the scene and found my son covered in blood and asked for water.
The police tried to give him soda but I wouldn\'t allow it.
I put him on my lap and he took his last breath there, \"said Vijayalakhsmi.
The body of Ramakrishnan was taken to the medical school and hospital of coinbatel.
\"I ran to the hospital behind the ambulance, where I noticed hundreds of injured people.
We only have one son and lost him in the explosion.
\"I have not celebrated Pongal festival or Diwali for the last 20 years,\" said Vijayalakshmi.