‘Indecisiveness’ saves Goan DySP on vacation with family

Panaji: It was a narrow escape from tragedy for Shivram Vaigankar, a deputy superintendent of police, and his family on Tuesday. Over lunch on Tuesday, the Goan family, in Kashmir on vacation, considered hiring a horse to go visit “one of Pahalgam’s most beautiful spots”. However, their indecisiveness, as well as his wife Shipla’s unwillingness to sit on a horse, probably saved their lives.
The couple, along with their son, Shaunak, reached Srinagar on Saturday for a holiday to enjoy the scenic beauty and cold weather, escaping the Goan heat. “We spent two days in Srinagar and one day in Gulmarg. My son wanted to stay one night in Pahalgam. However, we decided to spend a day at Pahalgam and return to Srinagar,” he said.
On Tuesday, they took a taxi in Srinagar and left for Pahalgam. “We reached Pahalgam at around 1.30pm, and after spending some time in the garden, we decided to have lunch. By the time we finished lunch, it was around 2.15pm,” he said. “My wife was not comfortable sitting on a horse at Pahalgam, as we already had a horse ride at Gulmarg. While we were busy discussing whether to hire a horse to visit the spot that was hit by the terrorists, it was around 2.35pm, and we saw people running down the hill,” he said.
By the time the Vaigankar family understood what was happening, the taxi driver approached them and requested them to sit in the car and leave the place as something was wrong.
“Immediately, CRPF personnel showed up and began evacuating people,” said Vaigankar, who added that they then returned to Srinagar.
“We decided not to cancel our scheduled trip, and we will continue to stay in Srinagar till Friday. We feel safe in Srinagar as there are security forces present everywhere,” Vaigankar said.