Pooja shuttles between hope amp; despair

Confusion began from the time of the first call from the Ministry of External Affairs MEA informing the family of the tragedy. quot;I was called by Sujan Chinoy of the MEA to tell me that my mother was among the people who were caught under a landslide on their way to Mansarovar,quot; says Pooja, quot;and honestly, the gravity of the situation did not hit me untilanother call came from Chinoy and he gave me the emergency cell number in Delhi and of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police ITBP rescue teams in Pithoragarh.quot;

A frantic Pooja was on the phone immediately to ITBP jawans who actually calmed her down and said, quot;Apke goodluck hai. Your mother8217;s name is not on our list.quot; Chinoy, however, insisted Protima Gauri was on the same batch when Pooja called him back confused, so it was back on the phone to Pithoragarh.

quot;The jawans read out the whole list of names which clearly did not have my mother8217;s name nor of her companion Kapil Sharma,quot; says Pooja.

It was only the next day that the confusion was cleared and her mother8217;s whereabouts finally established. quot;Chinoy insisted a colleague in the MEA had actually seen my mother and her companion off on Batch No 12. It finally transpired their names were not on the list because she was slotted for Batch No 11, but because of a problem with her passport, she could be cleared only for the later batch,quot; says Pooja.

Ifthe administration and ITBP were not busy mixing up official papers then they were on an offensive releasing disinformation. Protima Gauri8217;s family swings between hope and despair as news from the site of the tragedy trickles in.

quot;My mother8217;s sister is in Dharchula where all the relatives have collected but instead of her identifying her sister8217;s body, Gautam Kaul, the ITBP Director, who has never met my mom, goes on air to confirm that her body has been identified. My aunt has not been able to identify her as yet. It is like rubbing salt on a wound, with all these conflicting reports as our hopes soar. You know, she could still be alive,quot; says an optimistic Pooja.

Meanwhile, Protima Gauri8217;s sister Ashita Tham has already conveyed to the family in Delhi that she would like to leave Dharchula as she feels completely helpless dealing with an uncooperative and clueless administration.

Relatives of the dead have had to hire private vehicles to reach the site of the landslide, there8217;s no official who is ableto tell them what8217;s going on, even telephone calls are denied to them. quot;My aunt has been calling us everyday from across the border in Nepal,quot; says Pooja, quot;because the administration insists the telephone is for official use only. She is absolutely devastated by the sight of mangled bodies, the administration has put everyone on antibiotics because of fear of infection, they are not allowed anywhere near the site because of lack of permits8217;8230;quot;

quot;We have been in Delhi since last Thursday just waiting for some news,quot; she says stoically, quot;so that we could make arrangements for a plane to carry my mother back home. I guess we just have to continue waiting because they haven8217;t found her yet.quot;

Pooja admits it is not a time to be angry but she cannot help feeling utterly frustrated by the lack of official help and disinformation. quot;My mother always told me that if anything ever happened to her, we must not cry8230; that we must meditate instead of grieving. She said we should not make a fuss over a body8230; I hopewe can get some small happiness from all this8230;quot;