Day of weddings turns to nightmare

Hyderabad: Hundreds of weddings, housewarmings and new business ventures had been scheduled in India's southern city of Hyderabad on Sunday, considered an auspicious day in the Hindu calendar.

Instead, grieving relatives were waiting for news of those wounded, or they were burying or cremating victims of Saturday night's blasts that killed at least 42 people.

One bomb went off at a packed fast-food centre and two others at an amusement park while a laser light show was on. Scores of people were wounded.

Police have defused another 19 bombs - fitted with timers and placed in plastic bags - at bus stops, cinemas, road junctions and pedestrian bridges across the city.

At a private hospital, where several of the wounded were admitted, anxious relatives looked weary after spending the night sitting in plastic chairs in the waiting hall.

"I had gone shopping with my mother and we had stopped to eat," said Pawan Aggarwal from a hospital bed. He was being treated for injuries from the blast at the popular fast-food centre.

Blood everywhere

"We were somewhat lucky - but we saw so many people dead. There was blood everywhere," he added. Aggarwal, 27, was to be operated on later in the day to remove pellets lodged in his torso.

Thousands of weddings took place in Hyderabad yesterday, despite the bombings, religious leaders said.

"They passed off peacefully but people were worried and many relatives did not attend," said Paddinti Rambabu, the secretary of the association of Hindu priests in Andhra Pradesh.

As the day wore on, some semblance of normality returned. Boys played cricket on the streets. People went about daily chores and there was even the occasional muted sounds of music playing in decorated wedding halls.

But for Uday Kumar, who suffered head injuries at the fast-food centre, memories of Saturday will be hard to erase.

"I didn't even want to go to Gokul [the food centre], but my friend forced me to go," said Kumar, his head swathed in a thick bandage.

"He was standing right behind me and we were just arguing about who would pay when there was a blast. Now he is seriously injured and I don't know what will happen to him," he added.