A delayed lunch because of too much salt in a mutton dish inadvertently saved 11 Kerala residents from walking into the line of fire at the Pahalgam meadow.

A day after the attack, Lavanya Alby George from Kannur in north Kerala recounted the close brush with death she and her family experienced. A minor delay at a local restaurant, Moon Walk, saved their lives.

Lavanya, an entrepreneur who runs Laavyz Designs, a boutique in Kannur’s SN Park, was in Kashmir with her extended family — a group of 11 that included her husband, their three children, their parents, her husband’s cousin and her family.

Although this was her first personal trip to Kashmir, Lavanya had been sourcing traditional weaves from Pahalgam for her boutique and had planned to shoot videos of local artisans for her Instagram account. The plans had to be shelved because of the attack.

She told The Telegraph that on Sunday and Monday, the group skipped lunch to maximise their sightseeing time. But on Tuesday, they chose to stop for a meal. One of the dishes — mutton rogan josh — turned out too salty, prompting the hotel to prepare it again, causing a delay.

“As we reached the base of the mountain at Baisaran Meadows, a group of ponies came charging down in panic. Their riders were shouting in a language we couldn’t understand. Taxi drivers nearby warned us of a scuffle between the CRPF and tourists. Not knowing the full picture, we turned back to our hotel,” Lavanya said.

On Wednesday, the family stayed indoors, unaware of the extent of the attack. “We saw Pallavi, wife of Manjunath Rao, the Karnataka native who was killed in the attack, wailing. Even then, we were under the impression that some minor tragedy had happened. On reaching our hotel, we were told by locals that more than 25 people had been killed in a terrorist attack,” said Lavanya, who will be returning to Kannur on Friday.

Among those killed from Kerala was N. Ramachandran, 65, a native of Edapally in Kochi. His remains were flown back to Nedumbassery airport on Wednesday evening. Ramachandran was on vacation in Pahalgam with his family when he was shot at point-blank range. His daughter, Aarathi, witnessed the incident but showed remarkable composure, helping in coordinating the repatriation of
his body.

Congress MLA T. Siddique, who is part of a four-member Kerala legislative delegation on an official visit to Srinagar, expressed his admiration for Aarathi’s strength.

Aarathi, in her early 30s, was keen to spend her holidays with her parents and twins. She had come down from Dubai, where she had been working, to spend time with her parents.

“We were on a flight full of Malayali tourists heading to Srinagar when the news broke. On arrival, we saw firsthand the chaos and sorrow. Aarathi’s bravery was moving — she even kept the news from her mother, saying her father had been injured,” Siddique told reporters, adding that the situation in Srinagar is better now, but a sense of uncertainty has gripped the local people.

Karnataka ex gratia

Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah has announced ₹10 lakh ex gratia each to the next of kin of the three deceased in the attack.

The Karnataka government announced this within hours of the bodies arriving in the state from Kashmir.

Sivamogga Vijaya Nagar native Rao and Bengaluru businessman Bharath Bhusan, and Madhusoodan Rao, an Andhra Pradesh native based in Bengaluru, were among the three killed.