Chasoti: The hesitation of a teacher spared 80 children from some deaths. First minute from a wall of water and boulder through Chasoti village in Kishtwar district of Jammu and Kashmir, Hukam Chand kept his students back from a listening lunch. At 11.40 pm, the mountain fell down. The school was standing. The children lived.Chand teaches in the only primary school in the village. He recalled how the volunteers of the langar invited the children to eat early on 14 August. “They were insisting on going at 11 am. But ever since we were busy preparing for Independence Day, we caught them back,” he said on Sunday.When the roar increased loudly and the ground was shaken, Chand saw the mountain falling in the local stream Rajai Nalla. “We instructed the old students to run towards high land. I caught the younger people back,” he said. Once the floods decreased, every child was safe. Chand then ran to the anchor site. “I saw the bodies float. I was injured at least 30 from the rubble.” His relief was cut off with grief – his brother was among the dead.Delus did not leave any family in Chasoti. Three priests – Mercury Raj, Dina Nath, and Thakur Chand – along with the villagers. The bodies of Nath and Chand were found, but Raj is still missing. Joginder Singh, 28, said, “We cremated 10 dead bodies simultaneously on 15 August.” “This village has 13 family trees and each has been affected.”Singh reminded his mother of his last words. He went with him to grind barley in a watermelon, a regular work. “He looked at me and said ‘fine’,” he said. “This was my last conversation. After moments, everything went away. Temple – Kali Mata Temple, Menag Temple, Thin Temple – They also have holy trees.” Later that day, he and other villagers found his body under the rubble.The devastation has shook the confidence of the community. Some villagers said that the gods are “not happy”. Nevertheless, Singh believes that the divine forces spared him. “A boulder was stopped by the Ma Kali temple which pushed the water towards the stream and saved the village,” he said.At the priest Raj’s house, women used to cry inconsistently. The respected priest warned for a few days. “For the last 10 days, he was saying that something big was going to happen,” said Ram Krishnan Khajuria, president of Sanathan Mandal Padal Tehsil. “The same day, he stopped a woman from going to the fields.”Now, there is echo with mourning in the streets of Chasoti. Relief camp survived. Chand’s school has a comb of army and NDRF teams through debris. Between the disadvantages and ruin, their choice – delay on lunch – stands as a line that kept 80 children alive.
