Kolkata: A Nepal police warning and a local driver who turned the vehicle around saved 64-year-old retired schoolteacher Anukul Poddar and his wife Reba Ray Poddar, residents of Basirhat, who were about an hour-and-a-half away from the Nepal-China (Tibet) border where disaster struck. Their hours of anxiety and uncertainty ended on Sunday morning when the couple returned home. However, the couple is yet to overcome the horror of the ordeal.
“We were travelling towards Kailash-Mansarovar the day disaster struck. Police stopped our vehicle near Syabrubesi in Rasuwa district at 10.25 am. It was then, barely 40m-50m away, that we saw a mountain of water and mud rushing down the gorge,” Poddar said.
“Our driver turned the car around and drove back towards Kathmandu. When we reached our hotel, we learnt how narrowly we had escaped. Had we reached the border earlier, we might have been buried beneath the mud,” he said.
The couple arrived at Howrah station aboard the Mithila Express from Raxaul at 4.30 am on Sunday. A Basirhat police team led by OC Mohammad Firoz Ali, along with the couple’s son, daughter-in-law, and family members, received them. They reached home in a police vehicle at 7 am.
The Poddars had left for the trip with Kolkata-based travel agency Kundu Tirtha Bhraman on Aug 21. On Aug 26, the group left Kathmandu in two vehicles — one carrying Bengali tourists and the other carrying families from southern India. They were an hour-and-a-half from the affected area when the tour manager received news of the disaster.
The group had left their hotel at 6.30 am. “At first, our driver noticed something coming down the distant mountains that looked like white smoke. Only later did we realise it was water,” Reba said.
The driver took a road to the right and stopped at a safe location higher up the mountain. Soon after, the tour manager informed them that the bridge leading to the immigration office had been swept away. The group turned back to Kathmandu and experienced no further issue during their return.
Poddar remains concerned about those still missing, including his former colleague from Basirhat Town School, Swapan Mondal, and his wife Mou, residents of Khan Bahadur Road. “We are praying that they return home safely, just as we did. We have no news about them and remain worried,” Poddar said.
As the couple arrived at their Basirhat home, neighbours and Basirhat District police personnel gathered to welcome them.
“After hearing about the disaster, I tried calling the couple. Although I could not reach them initially, I was relieved when I spoke to them later. I am glad they have returned home unharmed. As neighbours, we stand by each other through good and bad times,” said Dilip Dutta, a next-door neighbour.