MUMBAI, July 14 -- A day before her birthday on May 13, doctors at Hinduja Hospital in Khar told Aarika Srivastav's parents that their 14-year-old daughter was brain-dead. For Aarika's mother Binal, it has become the day she remembers waiting for a miracle that never happened. "Doctors had told us there was only a one percent chance of her survival," she said when HT visited her in her Malad home. "We kept holding on to that. But eventually, we lost her." Aarika succumbed to her injuries on May 17, a week after a tree crashed onto the autorickshaw that she, her sister Manasvi and friend Harshita Kumar were travelling in. While Manasvi escaped with minor injuries, Aarika and Harshita were critically injured. Harshita survived and is recovering in Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital. Meanwhile, grief has settled into every corner of the Srivastav home. "My days have become meaningless," Binal told HT, her voice breaking repeatedly. "Everything is over. I don't feel hungry, I don't sleep. There is only a pervading sense of loss. It is as though my body is alive but I am not." The unbearable silence inside the house engulfs her. Aarika's elder sister stays in a hostel while her father spends most of his time at work. As a result, Binal and Aarika shared almost every waking moment. "She never slept without me," Binal said. "Now every room feels empty. The house screams with loneliness." Aarika was a child with extraordinary clarity about what she wanted from life. "She knew from Class VII that she wanted to become an aerospace engineer," said Binal. "She dreamed of studying at IIT, pursuing higher education at MIT and one day working at NASA. Physics fascinated her. Everyone used to tell her that cracking IIT was very difficult. She would smile and say, 'I know it is, but I will do it to make my mother proud.' Those words keep echoing in my ears." Aarika's ambitions never came at the cost of kindness. Family members remember her as unusually mature for her age-soft-spoken, deeply spiritual and disciplined. "She never answered back. She never hurt anyone. Her world was her studies and her family," said Binal. "She used to say 'I never want to live an ordinary life, I want to be famous.' "My entire life revolved around her," she continued. "My only ambition was to help her fulfil hers. Today, when she is gone, I have lost all purpose. It feels like there is life in my body, but life itself has left me." One memory has become impossible for Binal to shake off. A week before the accident, Aarika had unexpectedly told her that she did not want to celebrate her birthday as a close friend of hers had been diagnosed with cancer. There is another regret that haunts her. On the day of the tragedy, Aarika had wanted to go shopping with her instead of visiting their family friend in hospital. "We were all in Bandra, and I told her we would go after the visit but then she went ahead with her sister and friend," said a tearful Binal. "She sent me a video of herself five minutes before the accident. I wish I had listened to her. If I had, maybe things would have been different." Even in her grief, Binal said she had found the strength to speak because she did not want any other parent to go through what she had. "Development is necessary. Roads have to be built. Projects have to happen," she said. "But should development come at the cost of our children?" The bereaved mother believes the tragedy must force the authorities to rethink how Mumbai's trees are maintained. "This is not about one tree," she said. "We have seen so many trees and branches collapse during the monsoon. Tree bases should not be concretised. Trees need proper care and scientific maintenance by experts. There has to be accountability. No family should have to suffer this kind of loss."...