2 days ago
When legs gave way, tears kept streaming down her face: A sister pays tearful homage after Air India crash
Ahmedabad: An eerie silence fell over the charred crash site, broken only by the distant wail of emergency vehicles. The scorching sun beat down, and a sickening scent of burnt wire and aircraft debris hung heavy - a constant, acrid reminder of the tragedy. Amid this grim tableau, another sound rose: the raw, heart-wrenching wails of two young Manipuri women performing a sacred ceremony for their beloved lost ones. Kongbrailatpam Nganthoi Sharma, 20, and Lamnunthem Singson, 26 - bright, promising Air India cabin crew - had vanished into the inferno.
As they entered the hostel gate, stepping carefully amid scattered debris and blackened walls, one young woman's legs gave way. She dropped to the ground near a solitary tree, her body shaking with silent sobs that soon erupted into guttural cries, her face buried in her hands. The other knelt beside her, a hand resting gently on her back, her own eyes brimming. Both, in their twenties, wore faces etched with profound grief - a fragile mix of stoicism and devastation. Their glistening eyes held a distant, trance-like focus. Their trembling hands moved with purpose, preparing for the ceremony: an incense stick, a vibrant yellow marigold garland, a pristine white towel, among a few other things.
The ceremony was performed by Khenjita Geetanjali Devi, sister, and Ngamlienlal Kipgen, cousin of the air hostesses, sources said.
The air, heavy with the scent of smoke, despair, and burnt wreckage, slowly filled with fragrant incense as one of the women, her voice a fragile whisper that swelled into a potent lament, began to chant ancient Manipuri words. It wasn't a soft prayer; it was potent, deliberate wailing, possibly a Thawaimi Kousinba - a calling and collection of the soul, as IB Singh, a Manipuri local, explained to ET.
A man, possibly another relative accompanying them, moved slowly, spreading the purifying smoke, his eyes red-rimmed and unfocused. The white cloth was folded with immense tenderness and rocked five times, like a mother cradling her baby - a desperate attempt to coax the departed spirits back.
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"In our Manipuri, particularly Meitei culture, if a family member dies in a bus accident, vehicle accident, or plane crash, the family must try to collect the soul from the very spot where the person died. That is called Thawaimi Kousinba," Singh said. Without the ritual, the soul is believed to remain trapped, unable to pass on, possibly causing disturbances and obstructions. The ceremony helps free the soul, allowing it to ascend peacefully and eventually be reborn.
Clutching the white cloth to her chest, the young woman sobbed uncontrollably before carefully laying it on the ground. She clenched the brown paper bag that carried the Turkish towel, her head hung low, tears still streaming down her face.
Even Air India's support staff found their own eyes welling up. Hardened policemen and women nearby, typically unmoved, quietly softened, touched by the raw, unfiltered grief that filled the air. As she looked back once again, for those present, the scene was no longer distant or procedural - it was profoundly, painfully human.
