For several days engineering diploma student Suraj Pawar rushed from one relief camp to another to check on the injured and the dead. He wanted to know what has happened to his parents and sister after he left them near Gaurikund to get help.
Seven days later, Pawar was forced to come back to Thergaon in Pune to his home. He spent his days in silence praying to hear from his family. Finally on Tuesday, he attended college hoping that some ‘routine’ may bring some sense of normalcy back to his life.
His cousin Mayur Survase said, “Until we get some news of our missing family, his life will never be the same. It is difficult for him to be alone in that house, where he lived with his parents and sister. So, his elder sister and members of the extended family are staying with him.”
“We have been mourning for over a fortnight. Its neither here nor there. People haven’t eaten well and are not sleeping well. We want some positive news or closure,” said Survase.
Suraj’s brother-in-law Alok Shah said, “The entire family is scanning social media, calling Uttarakhand authorities or networking with journalists hoping to get some news.”
“The four of them were climbing uphill when rains started. My in-laws were exhausted and Suraj promised to get help and moved ahead. On the way, he saw people being crushed by landslides and he collapsed at a camp. Now he keeps on repeating that he should have gone back with help. That’s the last memory he has of his missing parents and sister,” said Shah.
Life came to a screeching halt for Aurangabad dentist Sunanda Kulkarni after she waited an entire night for her surgeon husband to return.
The couple was traveling with a group of pilgrims near Gaurikund when the rains started.
Her husband had ensured her safety before risking his own. “She wasn’t in a good state to even tell the details owing to the shock. They were going to a safer location and he even escorted her but later decided to return with a couple of men for some reason and never returned,” said a close family friend.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}