'They became my brothers': Woman recalls horror & humanity in Pahalgam

In the bloody aftermath of the terror attack in Pahalgam which claimed the life of her father, Arathi R Menon found family in two strangers. From guiding her to recovering her father's body, they helped her through everything.

 

Menon's father, 65-year-old N Ramachandran was among the 26 who lost their lives in the deadly terror attack of Baisaran in Pahalgam, Kashmir. He was walking through the meadows of Baisaran with his daughter and her six-year-old twin sons, while his wife was in the car. Menon recalled that she first mistook the gunshots for fireworks, only to realise quickly that it was a terrorist attack.

 

"We crawled under the fence to escape. People scattered in all directions. As we were moving, a man emerged from the woods. He looked straight at us," Menon recounted, her voice trembling.

 

He then spoke something that they couldn't understand, she said. What followed was a burst of gunfire — her father collapsed beside her. “My sons began to scream, and as the man turned and walked away, I realised my father was no more,” she recounted. “I picked up the boys and ran straight into the forest, not knowing where I was headed," she was quoted as saying by PTI. For nearly an hour, she and her children stumbled through the wilderness, trying to find a way out. 

 

Two other strangers become brothers

Amid all the chaos, when her phone finally managed to latch on to a mobile network, she managed to call their driver Musafir. As she searched for him in the unfamiliar terrain, she noticed the ponies had started running too. "I just followed their footprints."

 

Musafir and one other stranger, Sameer, helped her family through everything. "My driver Musafir and another man, Sameer - they became my brothers. They stood by me through everything, took me to the mortuary, helped with the formalities. I waited there till 3 a.m."

 

"I have two brothers in Kashmir now. May Allah protect you both," she said to them as she left from Srinagar to Kochi, her hometown. 

 

'I had to pretend to be strong'

However, this wasn't all for the grieving daughter. Menon, who works in Dubai and was on a trip with her family in Kashmir, also had to "pretend to be strong" for her family. "I couldn't break down as I have to manage my mother and my children," she said.

 

Moreover, to avoid the immediate shock for her mother, she told her that Ramachandran was injured and receiving treatment.

 

"It wasn’t until we reached Kochi on Wednesday evening that I told her the truth," she shared.

 

For Menon, what was meant to be a peaceful vacation in Kashmir became a journey of survival, loss, and unexpected solidarity. 

  (With inputs from PTI.)