They see death from close quarters

They see death from close quarters

By Vikas Vaidya

When they left hotel at Gaurikund, they saw the water literally swallowed the hotel in which they were staying 10 minutes ago. They left Sitapur and reached Rampur with a news that Sitapur too sunk into the water. Mamta Gunjal was carrying her four and a half years old child visited house to house for drinking water but alas! She cried, prayed, begged for water but nothing doing. Even to make the road proper to travel, the pilgrims had to get the diesel from their vehicles and used it for JCB.
“We, 27 persons left for Chardham pilgrimage on June 6 by Shri Gajanan Travels from Nagpur. The Nagpur bus left us at Delhi and we started our journey hiring another bus. After visiting Hardwar, Yamunotri; we went to Kedarnath from Gangotri. On June 15, Saturday we were approaching Kedarnath but our driver advised us to stay at Rampur, nine kilometer before Kedarnath. On Sunday early morning we reached Gourikund. We stayed at Gourikund for some time. On our way to Gourikund we already had experienced heavy rain,” said Mamta Gunjal.
Mamta Gunjal, a Physical Education teacher in Modern School, Koradi road went with her husband Shashikant and son Soham for this pilgrimage. At Gourikund, when they opened the window and saw outside. Mamta shocked to see the fury of nature. “I had never seen such huge waves of water in my lifetime. I immediately asked my husband to let leave the place. We came out of the hotel, walked for 10 minutes and heard a big sound. It was our hotel collapsing like a pack of cards. I saw a old woman with her family. I talked to her and left. Within seconds the building where the woman was sitting got sunk into the water. We were witnessing death everytime but somehow it was not for us, it seemed,” expressed Mamta.
When Gunjal and their colleagues sat in their vehicle, already other vehicles were floating on water. On their way to Rampur they got stuck up as road was damaged. Somehow they reached Rampur. Mamta Gunjal asked for water to the residents their but neither the administration nor people even gave her a glass of water for her baby. There were dead bodies everywhere. On June 19, they left but had to spent a whole night in a dense forest.
“On June 20, Gunjals reached Gupt Kashi and from their I gave a call at school and told my colleague that I was not sure of reaching alive so take care of my son Raj. I just cried and then our phone got concked off,” told Mamta Gunjal with tears rolling down from her eyes.
On the same day they reached Tehridehwal where a private company HCL made an excellent arrangement for them. From there they reached Hrishikesh, then Delhi on Friday, June 21. On June 22, they left for Nagpur by Gondwana Express.
“When we reached Nagpur and met our relatives, I felt that we saw a nightmare. We left so many bad memories. We reached safely but the memories are still hounding us,” expressed Mamta Gunjal.