"She was a god-fearing and religious woman," said Soni Kishor, a relative of Usha Sonkar, the 56-year-old who died in Monday's terrorist attack, "She always chanted god's name and would spend hours in the temple. She was a friendly person and always greeted people by saying 'God bless you'. It is shocking to hear about the incident."
Usha Sonkar and Nirmala Thakur were among 15 pilgrims from Dahanu who had gone on the Amarnath Yatra that came under attack on Monday. They had started their journey on July 2 and were supposed to return on July 18.
Thakur was a local social worker and former member of the Gram Panchayat. While Sonkar and Thakur were fatally wounded, five others sustained injuries. Many of the pilgrims had spoken to their families at around 7 pm, just before the attack, as they were headed back after 'darshan'.
Sonkar's brother, Balram Sonkar, said, "She last spoke to her husband at around 7.30 pm on Monday, saying she felt wonderful after taking darshan. Then a co-passenger from the bus called to tell us she was gone."
"We last spoke to my mother around 7 pm on Monday," said Thakur's son Pradeep, "and later at night, we got a call from a local authority saying she is now more." "She was a good social worker and everybody in the village admired her," says Omkar Rawat, a local resident, of the 57-year-old. "She use to arrange pilgrimage trips for the group. Most of the time, she worked for the adivasi tribes nearby."
Sonkar and Thakur's bodies rested at the H K Irani public hall as thousands thronged to pay their respects, before being taken for their last rites.
All the Dahanu pilgrims knew each other though mutual acquaintances and friends. Those injured include, Pramod Vajane, Yashwant Dongra, Yogita Dongra, Chhaya Mehra and Pushpa Gosavi. Mehra, who sustained a fracture on her right hand, visited Sonkar's home to pay her respects.
Bharat Purohit, who brought back the deceased from Surat, said, "While Pushpa is still admitted in Jammu and Kashmir due to an unstable condition, the other four were airlifted to Surat on Tuesday morning and will be travelling back to Dahanu by road."
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