31 August,2026 07:27 AM IST | Mumbai | Madhulika Ram Kavattur
Bajrang Laxman Parab (centre right in green shirt) along with the group. PIC/BY SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
Early birds Bajrang Lakshman Parab and his group of 37 narrowly escaped becoming statistics in the Nepal horror. Parab, a senior citizen from Dahisar, narrated his story about how his group and he escaped the flood as they reached the Nepal-China border to enter Tibetian soil two hours early to complete the immigration formalities to beat the group that had joined theirs during the trip.
Bajrang Lakshman Parab. Pic/Satej Shinde
Speaking with this reporter, Parab shares his sadness of how the people he saw just 24 hours ago when they were crossing the border are now missing. The retired Dahisar resident returned on Saturday from Kathmandu with his group after their trip was cut short owing to the floods.
[popcorn number="60" desc="Approximate no of people in Parab's extended group" class="Default"]
The group that returned safely from Nepal. PIC/ BY SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
Bajrang Lakshman Parab âOur own group had 37 people, and we had about 20 more random people join us, making the total 60, so we decided to go to the immigration at the Nepal border two hours early, as with such a big group, if someone does not get cleared in time, we all would have been delayed. Now that I think about it, going two hours early has saved all our lives.'
Parab went on to holy sites such as the Manasarovar and others in Nepal for pilgrimage around August 17 with a group led by their spiritual guru. Explaining his experience he said, "Our trip till before the floods was beautiful. Though many of us are older in age, no one felt tired during the whole trip and we were on time almost every day, going exactly on schedule."
All 37 pilgrims who came back to Mumbai on Saturday were flown via IndiGo flight 6E1158 from Kathmandu that landed at Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport at 5.11 pm. They were greeted at Arrival Gate B in CSMIA by BJP general secretary Vinod Shelar and MLAs Manisha Chaudhary and Bharati Levekar.
Parab said that the immigration process with the Chinese authorities was very strict and they were checking each bag thoroughly as well as papers. "At one point I had thought that we might get late and could get held back as well, but we were done with all of our processes on time and proceed to our next destination," he said.
Just exactly 24 hours after Parab and his group crossed the border, the same checkpoint which they had used was swept away by the flash floods. By the time they received the news, they were already at a safe distance from all the affected sites. Parab said, "When we got the news we were all very shocked, and no one knew what to say. None of us was worried about ourselves; we just wondered what must have happened to those who were at the checkpoint when the floods hit."
Parab added, "We saw a few videos on the internet about it, and it was horrific. I feel very bad about the staff. All of them so young, some in their early 20s. Right now all I hope for is that they found a safer space to escape the floodwaters, because the alternative is too painful to think about."
According to Parab, the people in the group were still very much calm about their own safety after the floods. "Our people were about to talk to their families here in Mumbai, and via them the Maharashtra government was able to talk to us. So we were assured that we would be brought back home safely, and they have stood by their promise. We are all back home safe and sound," Parab said.
