Feb 07 2015 : The Times of India (Delhi)
After 19-month hunt, man finds wife lost in Kedarnath deluge
Ashish Mehta & Rajendra Sharma
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Alwar
TNN
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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 away 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 had left for the 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 when the floods struck Kedarnath and devastated the region,“ said Vijendra of Alwar's Bhikampura village.
“Since that day , I stayed in 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,“ said Vijendra. “All I had was her picture that I showed villagers. On January 27, some people of Gongoli village told me they had seen a mentally unstable woman who resembled my wife.“ The ravages of time had made her unrecognizable but he knew it was Leela. The one-and-a-half year 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. “Officially , she was declared dead and our family even got a compensation of Rs 9 lakh.“
The 45-year-old spent several nights on roads when there was no hotel or village home to turn to. The reunion has been joyful but there's still a tinge of sorrow.
Sagar wept on seeing his mother. “Maa ne mujhe pehchaan liya (mother recognized me),“ he said. But Lee la's condition remains a worry as she isn't talking to anybody since she has 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 recovery . “We're not talking to her about what happened, but trying to make things normal,“ said Vijendra.
“Since that day , I stayed in 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,“ said Vijendra. “All I had was her picture that I showed villagers. On January 27, some people of Gongoli village told me they had seen a mentally unstable woman who resembled my wife.“ The ravages of time had made her unrecognizable but he knew it was Leela. The one-and-a-half year 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. “Officially , she was declared dead and our family even got a compensation of Rs 9 lakh.“
The 45-year-old spent several nights on roads when there was no hotel or village home to turn to. The reunion has been joyful but there's still a tinge of sorrow.
Sagar wept on seeing his mother. “Maa ne mujhe pehchaan liya (mother recognized me),“ he said. But Lee la's condition remains a worry as she isn't talking to anybody since she has 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 recovery . “We're not talking to her about what happened, but trying to make things normal,“ said Vijendra.
