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ALWAR: In an awe-inspiring story of human grit in the face of adversity, a 45-year-old travel company employee kept up the search for his wife who went missing in the Uttarakhand flash floods of June 2013 for a year and a half, though she was officially declared dead and relatives had given up hope, Far way from home and their five children, Vijendra Singh found Leela in a remote village in the Himalayas on January 27, alive but too traumatized to speak or recall her past.
"On June 12, 2013, my wife and I left for Char Dham yatra. I had taken 30 passengers in the bus of the travel company I worked for. I had last spoken to her on June 16, 2013, when the floods struck Kedarnath and devastated the region," said Vijendra of Bhikampura village in Alwar district.
"Since that day, I never left Uttarakhand and must have gone to a thousand villages in the hope of finding her. I had faith in God and in destiny that I would meet her again and that she was alive. Officially, she was declared dead and our family even got a compensation of Rs 9 lakh from the government while I was still camped in Uttarakhand," said Vijendra, tears flowing from his eyes.
The search was painful. "Even my family members urged me to return, but I didn't give up. Many people thought that I had lost my mind," said Vijendra. "All I had was her picture that I showed to villagers." The 45-year-old spent several nights on roads when there was no hotel or village home to turn to.
Uttrakhand had experienced massive cloud burst & landslide in which thousands of people died near Kedarnath, Gaurikund ect. (Picture taken on June 30, 2013 by Piyal Bhattacharjee)
"On January 27, some people of Gongoli village in Uttarakhand told me that they had seen a woman in a mentally unstable condition who resembled my wife," said Vijendra. The ravages of time and circumstances had made her unrecognizable but he knew it was Leela.
Sagar wept on seeing his mother. "Maa ne mujhe pehchaan liya (mother recognized me)," he said. But Leela's condition remains a worry as she isn't talking to anybody since she reached home on Wednesday. "She's unable to recall anything, but when my sister and her son-in-law were leaving, she applied tilak on her forehead and performed 'vidayee' (a send-off ritual). We are hopeful," said Sagar.
Vijendra and his daughters, Raj Lakshmi, Pinki, Pushpa, and Seema Devi, and son Sagar, are all praying for her quick recovery. "We're not talking to her about what happened, but trying various things to make her normal and bring the smile back on her face," said Vijendra.
@Utkarsh
"On June 12, 2013, my wife and I left for Char Dham yatra. I had taken 30 passengers in the bus of the travel company I worked for. I had last spoken to her on June 16, 2013, when the floods struck Kedarnath and devastated the region," said Vijendra of Bhikampura village in Alwar district.
"Since that day, I never left Uttarakhand and must have gone to a thousand villages in the hope of finding her. I had faith in God and in destiny that I would meet her again and that she was alive. Officially, she was declared dead and our family even got a compensation of Rs 9 lakh from the government while I was still camped in Uttarakhand," said Vijendra, tears flowing from his eyes.
The search was painful. "Even my family members urged me to return, but I didn't give up. Many people thought that I had lost my mind," said Vijendra. "All I had was her picture that I showed to villagers." The 45-year-old spent several nights on roads when there was no hotel or village home to turn to.
Uttrakhand had experienced massive cloud burst & landslide in which thousands of people died near Kedarnath, Gaurikund ect. (Picture taken on June 30, 2013 by Piyal Bhattacharjee)
"On January 27, some people of Gongoli village in Uttarakhand told me that they had seen a woman in a mentally unstable condition who resembled my wife," said Vijendra. The ravages of time and circumstances had made her unrecognizable but he knew it was Leela.
Sagar wept on seeing his mother. "Maa ne mujhe pehchaan liya (mother recognized me)," he said. But Leela's condition remains a worry as she isn't talking to anybody since she reached home on Wednesday. "She's unable to recall anything, but when my sister and her son-in-law were leaving, she applied tilak on her forehead and performed 'vidayee' (a send-off ritual). We are hopeful," said Sagar.
Vijendra and his daughters, Raj Lakshmi, Pinki, Pushpa, and Seema Devi, and son Sagar, are all praying for her quick recovery. "We're not talking to her about what happened, but trying various things to make her normal and bring the smile back on her face," said Vijendra.
@Utkarsh
