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Pt Shivkumar Sharma faces brunt of Jammu and Kashmir floods

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Pandit Shivkumar Sharma at a hotel in Dadar on Friday
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"Its been the most agonising ten days," an emotionally overwhelmed santoor legend Pt Shivkumar Sharma told dna. According to him, his octogenarian elder sister Sarla Raina and her son Sitanshu, 60, were among those trapped in the floods in Srinagar and unreachable on phone for over ten days.
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They have one home in Srinagar and another in Jammu. My nephew's wife and children were stuck in Jammu while my sister and her son were in the Srinagar home. They only go there once in a while and were there for two days. Little did they know they'd be stuck on the second floor with waters swirling till the first," he said.

Despite trying their numbers continuously, the maestro found calls not going through. "The visuals on television and the looming uncertainty over their safety led to a lot of anxiety across our extended family. We all kept trying each other hoping someone must have gotten across but it was all in vain."

Finally, there was contact on Friday. "She is older than me by 15 years and we are very close. Overwhelmed to hear each other, we couldn't talk for a while as both of us wept out of joy and relief."

He said the current crisis had highlighted the syncretism in the valley between Muslims and Hindus despite divisive separatist forces. "Some of my sister's Muslim neighbours would send their young sons over twice a day in boats through the swirling waters with hot food. My heart goes out to those youths who would put themselves to risk to help my sister and nephew who would've otherwise gone hungry as supplies had run out."

All praise for the army, navy, air force and NDRF personnel, he said, "Without their intervention, we would've lost so many of our people to the flood waters," and castigated. "It's painful to watch some thankless people being ungrateful. At a time when we need to stay calm and cooperate, its worrying how some people are trying to create trouble."

Blaming separatist forces for the state of affairs, he said, "The government is actually doing some work. There is also continuous media glare. Its okay to demand improvement in services but to negate the work they are doing is very unfortunate and does not do anyone any good."

He also hoped that the entire state of J&K would get the attention needed and not just the valley. "The Chenab and Tawi rivers have engulfed entire villages in Jammu. I hope survivors there too get timely help."

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