Berhampur: For 13-year-old Abhijit and his 11-year-old sister Subangi, their whole world had been revolving around their mother Sumati (Sukanti) Sahoo (32) for the last eight years after their father deserted the family.Deserted by her husband over a family dispute, Sahoo, a resident of Anand Nagar in Silk City, had been raising her children single-handedly by working at a private mixer unit.On Friday, after completing her Ram Navami rituals, she had left her children in the care of her mother, before leaving home around 8pm for a pilgrimage.That was the last time the two minor siblings saw their mother, as she was in the fateful bus, which met with an accident near Daspalla in Nayagarh district early on Saturday.They are now struggling to come to terms with the death of their mother.Abhijit and Subangi had stayed back at home due to exams while their mother joined a group tour to visit several tourist and religious places in the state. She had promised to return in three days, instead the shattering news of her death came.“She had assured us she would return on Monday or Tuesday,” said Abhijit, a Class VIII student. “Who will take care of us and our ailing grandmother now,” asked little Subangi, a Class V student.“We don’t know whether the children’s father will take responsibility after such a long gap,” said Bidya Sahu, Sahoo’s brother.The tragedy also snatched 35-year-old L Santosh Patra’s parents, L Hari (62) and Laxmi (56) from Ashok Nagar. It was Santosh himself who had hired the vehicle and organised the religious trip.“They wished to visit several shrines across the state, so I arranged the trip. I never imagined this would be their last wish,” said an inconsolable Santosh. The couple, like Sahoo, had boarded the bus after completing their Ram Navami rituals on Friday.The group had planned a three-day tour covering Samaleswari temple in Sambalpur, Hirakud reservoir, Maa Ghanteswari, Harishankar, Balangir, Bhim Dunguri, Nrusinghanath Temple (Bargarh), Maa Tarini (Ghatagaon), Biraja temple in Jajpur, Maa Mangala Temple at Kakatpur and the Jagannath Temple in Puri.
