Relief vs trauma on 1st flight bringing Bengal tourists back from Kashmir
Times of India | 25 April 2025
12 Kolkata: When passengers boarded the IndiGo flight to Kolkata at the Srinagar airport on Wednesday evening, the sense of fear and anger was palpable in the aircraft cabin. Three hours later, when the plane touched down in Kolkata at 11.40 pm, there was a sense of relief.
Flyers on board the first flight from Kashmir to reach Kolkata since the Pahalgam massacre lamented how an act of terror had turned the ‘Jannat' they experienced only a few days ago into ‘Jahannum' splattered with blood.
You Can Also Check: Kolkata AQI | Weather in Kolkata | Bank Holidays in Kolkata | Public Holidays in Kolkata
Most of the flyers TOI spoke to had visited the ‘Mini Switzerland' and the very spot where innocent tourists were gunned down, just a day or two before the incident. They were so awestruck that some were even on their way to revisit the spot on the very day of the attack when they were asked by security personnel to return to their hotel rooms.
"We were on our way to Baisaran Valley and were about 15 km away when security personnel stopped us and told something to our guide. We were then hurried back to the hotel. Only after reaching the hotel did we learn about the terror attack. If it wasn't for the lunch break in the hotel, we could have been at the very spot that day during the attack. This very thought sends shivers down my spine," said Gargi Majumder of Birati. The young woman toured Kashmir with eight others, including her parents and sister.
For the Kundus of Konnanagar, the first experience in Kashmir was nothing short of the proverbial ‘Paradise on Earth', and the picturesque memories would have been treasured forever if it wasn't for the scar of the gunning down of fellow tourists. "We toured the same place only a day earlier. Now memories of that picturesque place are stained in blood," said Debjyoti Kundu.
Many said their tourist guides and locals reached out to them to pacify and help them in whatever way possible to ease their fear. With shops shut post-atack, locals offered water and soft drinks to many on their way to the airport and said that ‘tourists are their life'.
"I still can't believe that tourists were gunned down, especially when our whole trip went so well and the locals were such nice people. We did not feel any sense of insecurity or threat during our entire stay in Kashmir. It is a huge relief that we came back home safe. But the thought that so many families have come back with their loved ones in coffins angers me," said Indrani Das, a Kolkata resident.
For most of the flyers who arrived in Kolkata on Wednesday night, it was their maiden trip to Kashmir. They said even though they had plans of revisiting Kashmir, the incident has created a mental block. During the entire flight, the hushed discussions centred mainly around their luck in not falling to the terrorists' guns.