Blast affects vegetable vendor’s hearing

Bhimabai Palave, a vegetable vendor from Dadar, is worried she will never again hear her customers try to bargain with her.

Bhimabai Palave, a vegetable vendor from Dadar, is worried she will never again hear her customers try to bargain with her.

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Palave, who was seated barely 100 metres from the spot of the blast, is barely able to hear now. “When the explosion took place, I felt as if someone had punched my ears,” she said. “I was numbed by the deafening sound and just ran away from the place.”

Palave is otherwise uninjured, and doctors are treating her for the hearing loss. Lying on a bed at KEM hospital, Palave is anxious. Her husband, who is recuperating from a surgery, cannot work for a while, and her two sons have moved out of her home. “I am the only breadwinner,” she said.

Palave, who sells vegetables brought from Kalyan, works from 3 pm to 10 pm every day. “Will I be able to earn? Will I be able to carry vegetables like I used to before the blast? What about my medical costs; who will pay the bill? What did the terrorists gain by targeting me?” she asks anyone who stops by her bed to speak to her.