Kerala family claims they narrowly escaped Pahalgam attack due to salty lunch: ‘It saved our lives’
A family from Kerala narrowly escaped the terror attack in Pahalgam during their vacation, thanks to a delayed lunch.
A family from Kerala on vacation in Jammu and Kahsmir claimed that they narrowly escaped the terror attack in Pahalgam thanks to an overly salty serving of “rogan josh” that delayed their travel plans, India Today reported.
Lavanya, a Kochi resident, revealed that she was on a holiday with her family in Srinagar days before the horrific attack look place. The group was headed to Pahalgam and were just two kilometres away from the site of the terror attack on Tuesday, she claimed.
According to India Today, Lavanya said that as they made their way up to Pahalgam they noticed a group of horses galloping downhill in a panic. The family sensed something was wrong but decided to continued moving towards Pahalgam.
Vehicles coming back from Pahalgam signalled to them to not proceed but the family was confused. Ultimately they decided to drop the plan and headed back when they were met with frantic phone calls from friends and relatives. “When we watched the news is when we understood what we escaped and how fortunate we were,” she said.
Saved by late lunch?
According to India Today, the Kochi family claimed they were saved from death by two people: Lavanya's husband and the staff of the restaurant where they had lunch.
“We didn’t have lunch on the previous two days as it was peak tourist season and there was a major rush. But that day, my husband asked to stop at a restaurant and insisted we have lunch. We spent around 1.5 hours there,” she said.
The mutton rogan josh they family ordered was "too salty" and when they told the restaurant staff, they insisted on preparing it again. "We said we would get late, but they were adamant about serving another one. I’m glad they were. That extra time spent making the dish again, maybe it saved our lives," she said.
Several other similar stories of narrow escapes were shared by tourists. A group of 28 people from Maharashtra claimed they were saved after unavailability of horses delayed their journey to Pakistan. Another couple from Jaipur claimed they decided to enjoy their snacks in a corner when the terrorists opened fire at tourists. They were able to escape unseen.
