Diwali came and went but could do little to lift the spirits of the residents of Uttarakhand’s Dharali village, which was partially wiped out by a flash flood triggered by a cloudburst on August 5.
The village is still mourning the death of around 200 people and the destruction of around 50 buildings, including hotels, homestays, restaurants and houses.
The residents saw Diwali lights flickering in distant villages and heard the bursting of firecrackers, but they could not bring themselves to participate in the celebrations.
“We have realised that our pain was only our pain. We cannot make others feel it. They cannot mourn the way a victim of a calamity mourns,” said Radha Rawat, 50, who lost her homestay in the flash flood. Some tourists staying at her homestay lost their lives in the calamity.
“We didn’t celebrate Diwali. The villagers of adjoining Mukhba, Harsil and Chhomli also observed the day with simplicity. They lit only a few lamps and burst firecrackers. The residents of other villages in the hills or valleys celebrated the festival as usual. We heard that Diwali was organised with much fanfare in Dehradun and other cities,” she added.
The rescuers could trace only 10 bodies in Dharali and discontinued the search operations a week after the tragedy. The villagers believe at least 190 people were buried under a 10-20-foot layer of sludge.
Dinesh Rawat, a former panchayat chief of Harshil, said: “We stand by the people of Dharali. They are in deep pain. They know that their family members are buried under the soil. Their source of income is gone. Some of them had apple orchards, which were destroyed. The community kitchen, which was started there with the help of the government, was closed after a few days. The villagers are on their own now.”
An army camp was swept away, and eight soldiers were killed in Harsil by another flash flood on the same day.
Rawat said Diwali was celebrated in villages where families had experienced something joyous this year. “Maybe a child was born or a marriage was solemnised. We are very happy for their happiness, but forgetting Dharali’s woes would be a crime for us,” he added.
Santosh Joshi, 30, a resident of Dharali, said they had expected government officials to visit the village and ask the villagers how they were doing.
“Sixty per cent of Dharali, including the market area, has turned into a ghost village. Businessmen who had opened their hotels and homestays here are waiting for certain approvals from the government to rebuild their structures, but the residents of Dharali do not have enough to even sustain themselves. The affected families have got ₹5 lakh from the government, but that is insignificant compared to the scale of the tragedy.”