Salty rogan josh, horse delay helped 39 cheat death in Pahalgam

India Today

24-04-2025

The toll in the Pahalgam terror attack could have been higher had luck not played a part and kept 41 people away from the Baisaran meadow, which turned into a killing field on April 22. While a salty mutton rogan josh kept away a family of 11 from the spot, lack of horses delayed 28 tourists from reaching there. A couple who moved away with their bhelpuri snack also thanked their stars.advertisementA group of terrorists targeted tourists and killed 26 people in Pahalgam, South Kashmir. They singled out Hindus and shot them at close range. A pony ride provider, who tried to snatch the weapon of one of the attackers, was also killed.'MY HUSBAND FORCED TO HAVE LUNCH JUST MINUTES BEFORE REACHING BAISARAN'A plate of salty mutton rogan josh turned out to be a saviour for an 11-member Kerala family on their trip to Pahalgam, helping them to cheat death.
The family from Kochi arrived in Kashmir on April 19 and explored the beauty of Gulmarg and Sonmarg for the next two days. On Tuesday, the family that skipped lunch on the two previous days, decided to have food just 15 minutes before reaching Baisaran meadow."On Tuesday we were heading to Pahalgam, located about 80km from Srinagar," Lavanya, one of the family members, recounted while talking to The Times of India.advertisement"We started a bit late that morning (Tuesday). Since we had skipped lunch the previous two days due to a hectic schedule, my husband insisted we eat before going to Baisaran, just 15 minutes away," she recalled.The family halted at a roadside eatery, but the excessively salty rogan josh meal left them uneasy. On seeing that they were unable to have the food, the staff at the eatery offered to cook afresh, prompting them to reorder, which delayed them by an hour.After resuming their journey to Baisaran, the family witnessed chaos just 2km short of their destination."Horses were galloping back, taxis were rushing down, and people were shouting – but we could not understand the local dialect," Lavanya told TOI.On being asked, the family was told that there had been some chaos, and security forces were on the spot.Their driver, a local, asked them to continue, suggesting such things were normal there. But sensing trouble, the family opted to turn back.After the 11 members spent some time by a lake in the valley, at 4.30 pm, they were urged to leave by shopkeepers due to some brewing tension. They headed to their resort, and soon received calls revealing a major terror assault had occurred in the Baisaran meadow.advertisementNow, the family think that it was good fortune and a right decision that saved them from sure death.HORSE DELAY TURNS INTO LIFESAVER FOR 28 TOURISTS FROM MAHARASHTRAA similar story of chance was shared by a group of 28 people from Maharashtra. In their case, it was the unavailability of horses that saved them.The tourists from Kolhapur, Sangli, Ratnagiri, and Pune were kept off from Baisaran meadow because horses were unavailable for their trip.The spot doesn't have a motorable road, and people can reach there only by trekking or on horseback.After spending some time bargaining with horse owners, the group was forced to delay their trip to Baisaran and wait for horses to arrive. The delay turned into a lifesaver."We were saved just because we didn't get the horse ride on time," Surendra Dattatreya Sapale from Gargoti village in Kolhapur told India Today TV."If we hadn't been delayed, we would have been caught in the firing," a tourist from the group told The Times of India.They quickly turned back after their driver warned them of the danger ahead."The horse owners had initially demanded Rs 3,200 per head. We spent 15 minutes bargaining for horses and another 15 gathering them. Just 500 metres into the ride, our driver ran up shouting, 'There's firing ahead-don't go!," Anil Kurane, a member of the group, was quoted as saying by TOI.advertisementBHELPURI IN A QUIET CORNER SAVED JAIPUR NEWLYWEDS LIVESIt was the craving for a plate of bhelpuri in solitude that saved Mihir and Komal Soni, a couple from Jaipur, according to a report in The Indian Express.The newlyweds had just arrived at Baisaran meadow in Pahalgam and decided to pause for the snack. They got their hands on some bhelpuri and moved into a quieter corner of the meadow."Everything was so serene. We bought bhelpuri and were sitting in a quiet corner, soaking in the view when suddenly, we heard gunshots. People started screaming and running," Mihir told The Indian Express.That snack break delayed their walk into the open, just enough to save them from the hail of bullets that killed 26 people around them. Komal recalled that Navy officer Lieutenant Vinay Narwal and his wife arrived in the meadows around the same time and bought bhelpuri from the same vendor before them.advertisement"They walked right past us... We later heard that the officer was killed," Komal told the newspaper,"We were just 10 steps away from the exit of the meadow. We hired a pony, paid Rs 4,000 and got out of there as fast as we could on the way to Pahalgam market, there were no security personnel, there was no one to help us," Komal added.Fate, chance and quick decisions might have saved many more people from the bullets of terrorists in Pahalgam. In this, salty mutton rogan josh, delay in horse ride and some solitary bhelpuri played a role.Tune InMust Watch