Day after, Hyderabad asks: Why us?

Twenty-four hours after the blasts, most residents of Hyderabad have just one question: "Why is this happening to our city?"

Although life went on as normal with peoples doing their work, the sadness was evident. Ganesh, an auto rickshaw driver said, "Hyderabad was a place where anyone could come and make a living. A person could sleep peacefully and safely on the footpaths. But now all that seems to be changing. Till the Mecca Masjid blasts everything was ok in this city, but now everyone moves with a sense of fear over here," he said.

Some shopkeepers said that when such incidents occur, the people should come out in numbers and work more than usual to show the terrorists that they are not deterred.

Meanwhile at the hospitals, relatives continued to pour in to check on their near and dear ones. The Osmania Hospital which was a hub of activity till Sunday afternoon went quiet after 31 of the 32 bodies kept in the mortuary over there were claimed. The rest of the bodies were kept in the Gandhi Hospital mortuary. An employee said there is only one body remains in the mortuary. He said that they are unable to identify the body as the head had been separated from the body.

The doctors worked into the night to ensure that the post mortem was complete and the bodies could be handed over to the relatives. The relatives said that they had no problem while claiming the bodies and were thankful to the hospital staff. Some onlookers however said that the hospital should treat the bodies with more respect. One person said the bodies are just piled up and not kept in separate coffins, a fact that the hospital authorities deny.

Earlier, the mortuary presented a horrific picture with the bodies of the victims lying on the floor. Scores of mourning relatives were seen outside the mortuary waiting to claim the bodies. Some said that the process of claiming the bodies would have been faster if leaders had not visited the mortuary.