‘Aunty Wala Kitchen’ go-to place for students who stayed in PG, on rent while preparing for exams
Parvati's relatives said she and her family members are originally from Nepal and had been living in Delhi for several years. About a year ago, she opened the eatery for students.
Parvati Ojha was killed in the building collapse near Saket Metro yesterday Parvati Ojha (50) had managed to escape moments before a four-storey building collapsed on her eatery at Saidulajab near the Saket Metro station on Saturday night. But then she turned back. She hoped to save some medical and engineering graduates – many of whom regularly ate at her makeshift eatery – after they got trapped under the debris.
She never came out again. Her body was recovered later along with that of five students who were at her eatery when the building collapsed.
She ran ‘Aunty Wala Kitchen’, located next to the building that housed a coaching centre. The eatery was the go-to place for students who stayed as paying guests and tenants in the area while they prepared for competitive examinations.
‘Parvati aunty’ was popular among the students. “She would always think of us. She was humble, calm and helpful. Minutes before the incident, I had coffee in the eatery and left. I had barely reached my PG accommodation when I heard a loud noise. I turned and saw the four-storey building next to her kitchen collapsing,” a young woman recalled.
“Aunty, her staffers and some students had managed to come out of the eatery. But after a few seconds, she went back in, hoping to help some students trapped inside. She got trapped herself,” she added.
Hari Prasad Ojha, Parvati’s cousin, worked with her in the eatery. “I was preparing cold coffee. The last order was for 12 parathas and four cold coffees… We rushed out as soon as we heard sounds from the adjacent building. But Parvati went back inside while talking to someone over the phone,” he said.
Originally from Nepal, Parvati and her family had been living in Delhi for several years. Around a year ago, she had opened the eatery – a single-storey structure with a tin roof – for students in the area, said Ojha.
Aadarsh, a BTech graduate preparing for the GATE exam, said the food at Parvati’s eatery was hygienic.
“She did not increase food prices even during shortage of LPG cylinders.”
Another student, Aarav, added that parathas and cold coffee were among the favourites on the menu. “She always thought about students. Even when cylinders were difficult to procure, she managed to keep the shop running.”
Six people were killed in the building collapse near Saket metro station yesterday. PTI
As rescue teams and excavators removed the debris on Sunday, Parvati’s daughter Neelam and other relatives waited anxiously, hoping against hope. After a 16-hour operation, Parvati was pulled out of the debris and rushed to a hospital, where doctors declared her dead.
Ekta (24) was one of the five students who had gathered at her eatery to grab a bite when the building collapsed.
Five years ago, her father Ramesh Chand had sold a portion of his family’s land in Rajasthan’s Alwar district so Ekta could pursue her dream of becoming a doctor in Kyrgyzstan. But fate had other plans.
On Sunday, around 4 pm, Ramesh broke down as rescue workers pulled out Ekta’s body from the rubble.
“On Saturday afternoon, we spoke on the phone for about 15 minutes… We spoke about her exams, which she said had gone well. She was very happy,” said Ramesh, adding that Ekta’s 25th birthday was only days away.
Around 9 pm, he received a call from one of Ekta’s friends informing him that the building has collapsed. Ekta, who had gone to the eatery for dinner, could not be contacted.
Ramesh rushed from Alwar and reached Delhi around midnight, hoping his daughter would be rescued safely from the debris. Her body was recovered hours later.
Ekta had returned to India after her five-year MBBS course and had been preparing for the Foreign Medical Graduate Examination (FMGE), the mandatory licensing test for foreign-trained doctors seeking to practise in the country.
Aditya Sharma (25), another student who was at the eatery when the building collapsed, was preparing for exams to get a job in the public sector. He managed to survive.
A graduate of Muzaffarnagar Institute of Technology, the engineer had been living at a PG for the last 10 months.
The phone of his brother Rajneesh Sharma – software developer working in Jaipur – rang at about 8.30 pm on Saturday. “Aditya is stuck. The building has collapsed,” said a man, claiming to be a friend of Aditya.
Rajneesh reached Delhi early Sunday, when he was told that Aditya has been shifted to AIIMS trauma centre. “He has a fracture on his thigh. I still think we are lucky. All the students who were brought to the hospital with him are still in the ICU,” said Rajneesh.
“We moved to cities for a better life — infrastructure and all. And this is a better life. A building, which just falls one fine day. Now, people are saying it was illegal,” he added.
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