Delhi has 694 families grieving over their lost ones. They have been running from one bus stop to another in Dehra Dun with pictures of their loved ones who have gone missing in the Uttarakhand disaster. They have been begging reporters to help locate their kin, some even offering money in exchange of information. ‘We need to know whether they are alive or have been cremated,’ they tell Deebashree Mohanty, Manjari Singh and Shibaji Roychoudhury
‘We haven’t eaten for 12 days. Adbhut is critical. I don’t think he will make it. I’m sorry Gurmi’
Gurmeet Kaur
Assistant Professor, Daulat Ram College
Husband, three-year-old son, mother-in-law and sister-in-law missing
In the picture: Gurmeet’s son & husband
We haven’t eaten for 12 days. Adbhut is critical. He misses you a lot. I don’t think he will make it. I am sorry Gurmi...”. This is the last message Gurmeet Kaur received from her husband, former Intelligence Bureau officer Shreetesh Chandra, on June 26.
“I had given up hope. Then, all of a sudden, I got this message from an unknown number. I didn’t know how to react — whether I should be happy that my husband is alive but suffering, or cry that I might never see my only son ever again. The mobile number belonged to Rajneesh Sahani who was a part of a large Rajasthani pilgrim group which was lucky to have been spotted by a helicopter and rescued on paying Rs20,000 per person. Since my husband didn’t have that kind of money, he was forced to take a dangerous treck from Son Prayag to Jungle Chetti,” Kaur, a professor with Daulat Ram College, narrates.
Her tears have dried up and she sports a stoic tone while telling you that the last message mentioned there are 9,000 people taking the treck with no food and very less water.
“My husband’s message said that the food being airdropped had got stuck on trees. The victims are fighting among themselves, behaving almost like carnivores. For the first time, Shreetesh sounded feeble and unsure. He didn’t tell me but I fear I have lost my mother-in-law too,” Kaur says. She dropped out of the pilgrimage at the last minute, owing to an examination paper evaluation duty that came up unexpectedly.
“Shreetesh cancelled my ticket on the morning they left. He was annoyed that I wasn’t able to join him for this trip. He didn’t even say bye,” Kaur says. She has since shifted to her mother’s place in Rajinder Place and needs constant medical intervention. “Adbhut was my first born. We had to go through a lot of medical tests to conceive him. I feel so helpless that I cannot do anything to save my family,” she concludes.
‘They fished out my wife shonali’s body in 12 pieces’
Vipin Sharma, 36
Clothes manufacturer in Ghaziabad
His 2-month pregnant wife is dead and 51-year-old mother missing
Shonali and Vipin had a love marriage in January, 2012. They were school sweethearts and had pledged to be together till they breathed their last. “We had gone through a lot of hardships to get married since we belonged to different communities. Her brothers had beaten me up and kept blackmailing me to leave her. Even after our wedding, we lived in perpetual fear. But after the news of her pregnancy came, the families calmed down and her brothers accepted us. But now, everything is over. Shonali had gone to take Kedarnathji’s blessings because she felt it was all due to him that our family tensions had settled down,” Vipin, who has been fighting with the Government to get back Shonali’s body, tells you.
Rescue officials, he says, informed him that they have fished out Shonali’s body in 12 pieces. She had died a miserable death and with her the unborn child also suffered the same fate. “My baby is gone. But it wouldn’t have gone through the pain Shonali did. I am told my wife has been cremated in a mass grave. The only thing that has been sent to me are her clothes and a ring which they found on one of the fingers which was still attached to her body,” he says. Ever since the news of Shonali’s death came, Vipin has lost all hope of recovering his mother.
“I have been to Dehra Dun where the rescuers are bringing the survivors. I keep waiting for my mother to alight from one of those buses. But she never does. Now, I don’t think she will ever come back,” a dejected Vipin who has shut shop since the disaster struck, tells you.
‘A survivor sent us photo of mangled bodies. That was my family’
Nitisha Arora, 22
Botany Honours student, Mata Sundari College, Delhi University
Parents and elder sister cremated in a mass grave. Nitisha is being looked after by maternal uncle
In the picture: Nitisha’s parents
No news is good news, Nitisha always used to tell her relatives. And she was proved right when the phone rang on June 23. “Being an ex-serviceman, I knew a lot of people in the Forces. I requested them to provide us with an update. That very evening, one Satinder Kaur called us to say that they had found an ID on three mangled bodies. He sent us a snapshot and I confirmed over the phone that this was my family. Nitisha has lost her parents and sister to a horrible tragedy. She hasn’t seen the picture I got from Kaur and we never intend to show them to her,” Bhishan Dua, who runs a private coaching for IIT JEE students and is Nitisha’s maternal uncle, tells you.
While Nitisha’s parents wanted to visit Kedarnath, Nitisha wanted to go only to Dehra Dun for a family outing. A compromise was reached. They were supposed to return from their trip on June 24 and then the entire family was to go on a short trip to Dehra Dun. “Her father had recently bought an SUV and wanted to test drive it in the hills. So a date was fixed. But God had something else in mind. We haven’t told her yet that her parents have been cremated. She is still hoping they will come back some day. We don’t have the courage to tell her,” Dua says. The spunky girl who has modelled as a college student and has recently advertised for a local toothpaste company, has been pleading with TV channels to find her loved ones.
‘Radha’s in-laws have sought custody of kids’
Radha Arora, 38
Homemaker. Has children Ayaan, 7, & Riya, 8 months
Husband Ashutosh, a software engineer, missing. There has been no communication from him. The only clue: NDRF officials have recovered his electronic ID card from the rubble
In the picture: Radha’s husband Ashutosh
The constant wailing of a baby greets you as you enter Arora Nivas in Mayur Vihar Extension. Eight-month-old Riya has been incessantly weeping because her mother is in hospital due to chest pain. “Riya is a breast-fed baby and she is missing her mother. Radha collapsed when the NDRF called her with news that they had recovered an electronic gate pass of Ashutosh from the rubble in Kedarnath. They said nothing else. Radha has lot all hope. She complained of chest pain and we rushed her to hospital. Ashutosh was a livewire, a huge help in household matters. We are scared how Radha will manage her children,” Diana Mathews, her neighbour and friend, tells you. Radha’s parents-in-law who live in Ahmedabad are on their way. But Mathews is not sure that they will accept Radha without their son. “Radha had a troubled time as an orphan. Her in-laws never respected her due to this reason. The house, Ashutosh’s car and a property in Bhiwani are all registered in his mother’s name, so Radha gets nothing. She will be on the streets if Ashu doesn’t return,” Mathews says. Radha’s in-laws have already filed a plea in court demanding that in case of a tragedy, their grandchildren should stay with them and not with their mother who has “nothing to fall back on”.
‘Bhagwan ko aana padega, mujhe godi mein uthake le jaana padega’
Deepti Tyagi, 39
IGNOU part-time lecturer
71-year-old mother was spotted on TV trying to climb a rope bridge to cross over to safety. Dipti saw her being given medical aid on national TV but was later informed that she had died. Body cremated with other victims
In the picture: Dipti’s mother Usha
We had our hearts in the mouth when the TV footage showed mummy being ushered on to a rope bridge along with other women. I thought I was the luckiest daughter to have switched on the channel at that precise moment.
She even made it to the other side. But soon afterwards, she collapsed and the policemen rushed to help her. That’s all we saw. The channel then shifted to other things. I kept calling the channel crew to get more information but none had a clue about what had happened to my mother.
“I spent three days in extreme anguish. I even went to Dehra Dun to find out about her. But no news came my way. Finally, on June 25, I got a call from the Army saying that she had died in that rescue attempt. Her body was apparently lying unattended for quite sometime before she was cremated,” Dipti says.
A few days before Usha left for the yatra with her friends, all of whom are missing, she had a fight with her daughter. “I am a spinster by choice. But my mother was very keen on my marriage. She kept pushing me to tie the knot. I used to joke to her saying, ‘tum ho na mera khayal rakhne ke liye, mera khoon choosne ke liye!’ And she would have a ready retort: ‘Tum mujhe upar jaane dogi nahin. lagta hai, bhagwan ko swayam aana padega, mujhe godi mein uthake le jaana padega.” Profound words from her.
‘29 members of my family perished’
Ashwini Kumar
Businessman in Dwarka
29 family members missing, including his parents
Twentynine members of Ashwini’s family, including his parents and cousins and their respective families reached Kedarnath on June 14. “I haven’t heard from them ever since. I went to the Jolly Grant airport where I came to know that the Government had rescued 4,000 people. Believe me, all these are false claims. They might have saved some people from nearby areas and even if the Forces went to Kedarnath, they rescued only 10 per cent of the total population stranded there,” an inconsolable Ashwini says.
‘They were talking to me on phone when they got swept away’
KK Sharma
Retired private sector professional
Son, daughter-in-law & grandson missing
In the picture: Sudesh with Vaibhav, Babita
My 45-year-old son Sudesh, daughter-in-law Babita and 13-year-old grandson Vaibhav left for Kedarnath on June 10 by road, leaving their 16-year-old son behind with us as he had to study. I spoke to them on June 16. They had just finished their darshan and were in the parking lot to sit in their car and drive back home. It had started raining, they were telling me, and just then their phone went dead,” KK Sharma recalls amid sobs.
He still shudders when he tells you that that must have been the precise moment when the flashfloods fury unleashed on Kedarnath. “later, when I saw on TV, I realised how my family would have been right in the middle of the parking lot which was instantly swept away,” he says.
Sharma, who has lost all hope of his loved ones ever returning, kept calling them till late in the night but in vein. “My second son went to Dehra Dun where survivors were being brought in from devastated areas of the Uttarakhand hills. They stayed at the Jolly Grant airport for eight days, scanning the list of survivors and the dead and pleading with officials to somehow give them some information about my son’s whereabouts. He got to know nothing about them. All we are doing now is consoling my 16-year-old grandson who has to write his Board examinations this year,” a veritably broken Sharma tells you.
‘survivors were being mugged, i was robbed too’
Atul Nautiyal, 34
Works in an export house in Okhla
Uncle Sitaram (67), sister-in-law Shama (36), her children Drishti (7) and Riddhimaan (4) missing
In the picture: (Above) Drishti, Shama & Riddhimaan. (Below) Sitaram
There were eight of them staying at the GMVN guest house at Rambara. The Nautiyal family was about to start the journey to Kedarnath and Badrinath on June 16. It had been raining for three days. However, on Monday morning, at about 8:30 am, a GMVN employee came in in a hurry and abruptly asked them to vacate the room and leave immediately. “We thought they must be wanting to prepare for new guests and that’s why they were hurrying us into vacating the rooms. But, soon they came back running and screaming, ‘bhago, bhago, pani aa raha hai.’ We didn’t understand initially but when we saw them running out, we grabbed some essentials and ran out too. Along with them, we tried to climb to the hill top nearby,” survivor Atul Nautiyal tells you.
In the melee, Atul’s family got split. While Atul and his wife Shveta (36) and daughter Mehal (3) were able to make it to the top of the hill, his uncle Sitaram, cousin Sanket and his wife Shama, their daughter Drishti (7) and son Riddhiman (4) went missing. “For the first two days, we were stuck under a tree, with no food or water, surrounded by dead bodies, constant landslides and chilly winds. The mountain was so slippery that one wrong step and it would have been all over for us. Hence, we didn’t sleep even for a single second, in fact barely moved a muscle,” he recalls.
On the third day, Atul saw helicopters. He waved his red sweater, but to no avail. Around afternoon, he saw his cousin Sanket trying to come up the hill. He rushed to help him up but saw he was badly injured. “Apart from his external injuries, he was bleeding from the inside as well. He kept fainting. We found an asbestos shade and moved under that to keep out of the rain,” he adds.
On the fourth day, they found out that the route towards Gauri Kund had cleared a bit. For the next three days, due to the slippery terrain, they crawled on all their fours for 11 to 12 hours a day and took rest in the mountain jungle during the night. There were several such families doing the same.
If the destruction by God and the incompetence of the Government wasn’t enough, they were mugged on the way. “There were so many Nepali chaps mugging and robbing even the dead, stealing cash, jewellery, cell phones and other belongings. I saw one of them stabbing an already wounded old woman and snatching her chain. I, too, got mugged by a Nepali who took away Rs14,000 from me along with our mobile phones, gold rings and my wife’s necklace,” he says.
Meanwhile, the food being airdropped mostly got stuck on high trees and the stuff that landed was inedible. “We had no water to drink for four days. When we finally opened the packets, they had rotten bread, biscuits and half a glass of water. One couldn’t eat that stuff since our throat was very dry and it was impossible for us to swallow,” he adds.
The family, along with others, helped in making a helipad using straws, branches and other things to make it possible for a chopper to land and rescue them. While Atul was able to rescue his family, he couldn’t save his cousin as he died of internal wounds on the way. The rest of the Nautiyal family is missing. However, Atul is hopeful he will find him. He has been visiting hospitals in Dehra Dun and Hardwar. “When we escaped, I saw my nephew Riddhiman making his way from a different route with a doctor’s family. I hope he has survived,” he concludes.