KOCHI: Lavanya Alby and her extended family were ascending the road to Baisaran Valley in Pahalgam when -- a few kilometres away from their destination -- a swarm of horses rushed past them from uphill. Then followed panic-stricken people and a stream of vehicles, including an ambulance. Little did they know that they had narrowly escaped the terror attack up there. Their unlikely saviour? A salty rogan josh.
Lavanya and her family had been touring Gulmarg, Sonamarg and other attractions in Kashmir for two days from April 20, and skipped their lunch on both days to save time. “Since it is the peak tourist season, all the restaurants are heavily packed during lunch hours. It might take hours to get lunch which cuts into our sight-seeing time. So we used to skip the lunch. But that day, my husband casually suggested that we have lunch before we ascend the hill.”
Even though not hungry, the family stopped at Moonwalk restaurant, a few kilometres from Pahalgam as it was not very crowded, wanting to try the Kashmiri mutton delight rogan josh. But the dish was a let-down as it was too salty and had bony mutton pieces. Seeing their disappointment, the restaurant owner insisted that it would be prepared again so that they would not return to Kerala with a bad rogan josh experience.
Even though the family hopped in for a ‘quick’ lunch, they were compelled to stay back until they tasted the newly-prepared dish. “The preparation of the dish and us complimenting them on their hospitality took almost an hour and a half. If we had left earlier, we would have been right at the spot of the terror attack when it happened,” recalled Lavanya with a shudder.
The initial hustle from the top of the hill did not raise any alarm for the family as their driver repeatedly assured that they were safe. Soon they realised something had gone wrong uphill, though it was still not clear what had happened. The family decided to spend some time at a lake beneath the valley and took some photographs before they returned to their resort.
“Only as we reached the stay, our phones got connected to the wifi and we got to know about the bad news. The terror and fright of realizing what we had narrowly escaped still sends chills through my body,” she said.
The family thanked the locals and the resort staff for their safe return to Srinagar and then back to Kerala. “The owner of the restaurant reassured us of our safety for two days until we could return back to the capital. The attack has affected their livelihoods very badly. If no tourists visit anymore, they are concerned about what they will do tomorrow,” said Lavanya, recollecting her conversations with the resort staff.
Lavanya, who is a Kannur native, her husband Alby George, their three children, parents and the four-member family of her cousin Lesli, who lives in Ernakulam, returned to Kerala safely on April 25.
