HOLIDAY WAS PLANNED LAST MINUTE
A last-minute weekend holiday plan turned into a tragedy for the Andraskar family. Jayant and his wife Manshea, along with their two daughters Anagha and Janhvi, were among the seven people killed on Sunday in the Gulmarg cable car mishap.
NEW DELHI: The three-year-old appears puzzled. Standing outside her apartment she watches her mother talk about her best friend, Anagha Andraskar, to a group of people. Curious, she bends forward in an attempt to tap into their conversation.
“Where is Anagha? What happened to her? Who are all these people?,” she interrupts her mother and gets a prompt reply. “Nothing. I told you that the fairy took her away. She is fine.” She steps back, looks around and returns to her balcony, where she often stood and spoke to Anagha. Four members of a family — Jayant Andraskar, his wife Manshea and two daughters Anagha and Janhvi, who went to Gulmarg for a holiday, were among seven who met a tragic death in Kashmir’s Gulmarg when a cable car was violently flung after the ropeway snapped. Jayant worked as a lecturer of Civil Engineering in Pusa institute, his wife was a home maker. While Anagha just joined nursery school, Janhvi was a Class 2 student.
“They loved to travel. They just went to Maharashtra for a wedding and returned last week. To go to Kashmir was a sudden plan. May be because of the weekend. They left on Friday and were to return on Tuesday,” Mohini, a neighbour, whose daughter studies with Anagha, said.
“The kids were excited for the trip. The elder daughter asked her tuition teacher to get done with the class early as she had to wake up early to catch a flight. They had an early morning flight to Srinagar on Friday. Just a night before Manshea told me that they were going for a short trip and will be back on Tuesday,” she added.