Posted ‘Yatra Puri’ status hours before death:Dausa bus crash victim’s husband recalls wife’s final journey, says everything ended in a moment

The couple had completed the Char Dham Yatra and were returning home. They had successfully visited all the four pilgrimage sites. After speaking to family members, wife Nirmala Gupta happily posted a “Yatra Puri” (journey completed) status on social media. No one had imagined that just hours before reaching home, this journey would become the last trip of her life. Senior Indore journalist Chandraprakash (Chandu) Gupta, who lost his wife Nirmala Gupta in the Dausa bus accident in Rajasthan, recalled the horrifying moments of that night while speaking to Dainik Bhaskar. He said, “We were returning home, but everything ended in a moment.” On the night of June 30, a sleeper bus travelling from Rishikesh to Indore on the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway in Dausa district collided with a trailer moving ahead. The impact was so severe that both vehicles caught fire. Eight passengers died in the accident, while 21 others were injured. Wife had been insisting on going on Char Dham Yatra again for three years Chandu said, “My wife Nirmala had been insisting for three years that we should go on the Char Dham Yatra again. We had already visited the four shrines once. I tried to explain that we had already taken darshan, but she said there had been many changes there and she wanted to visit again.” All preparations for the journey were complete. The train tickets for both onward and return journeys were also confirmed, but Nirmala suggested travelling by bus, saying that changing platforms with luggage during train travel would be inconvenient and a bus journey would be more comfortable. “I do not know why I agreed to her suggestion. I cancelled the confirmed train tickets and decided to leave for the Char Dham Yatra by bus on June 19.” On the advice of an acquaintance, they started their journey in a private travel bus. The bus AC stopped working on the way, but they somehow continued. They had proper darshan at all four shrines. Many arrangements also became easier because of their son-in-law. On June 29, they returned to Haridwar. Since their return bus was scheduled for the next day, they spent the entire day of June 30 exploring Haridwar. At that time, they had no idea that the journey back to Indore would become the biggest tragedy of their lives. Told son not to book the same bus because its AC had failed Chandu said that they had to return to Indore on June 30. He called his son and asked him not to book the same bus in which they had travelled from Indore for the Char Dham Yatra. “The AC of that bus had stopped working, so I asked him to book seats in another bus.” Their bus was scheduled at 4:20 pm. They were still travelling around Haridwar until 4 pm when they suddenly realised that it was time for the bus. They hurriedly hired an auto-rickshaw. The driver demanded ₹600 to drop them at the bus stand. They collected their luggage from the hotel and reached the bus stand around 4:15 pm. They also had to pay an additional ₹90 to take the auto inside the bus stand. After reaching there, they found out that their bus was not leaving from that location but from the Rishikesh side. Chandu immediately contacted the bus operator, who told him that the bus would pass from that route around 5 pm and asked them to cross the road and wait there. “Both my wife and I carried all the luggage and walked there. After waiting for some time, we called again and were told to come half a kilometre further back. We again picked up all the bags and walked there. Finally, we found the bus going towards Indore.” Chandu said, “Today I think that if we had not reached that bus or had missed it, perhaps my wife would have been alive. But at that time, all we thought was that we should not miss the bus at any cost. Who knew that the bus we were struggling so hard to catch would become my wife’s last journey? I never imagined even in my dreams that this journey would change my entire world.” After returning to Indore, they also had to visit Vidisha and Vrindavan Chandu said, “After reaching Indore, we had planned to visit Vidisha. From Vidisha, we were also supposed to go to Vrindavan.” “During the bus journey, Nirmala told me that the bags were already packed. After reaching home, we would only get ready and leave for Vidisha.” After that, they also planned to visit Sanwaria Ji and their family deity. “We never knew that none of these plans would be completed.” She posted ‘Yatra Puri’ status Gupta said that after boarding the bus, Nirmala was extremely happy. “I had not seen such happiness on her face in many years. We kept talking about family throughout the journey. We spoke to our children over phone calls.” He said she told them that the Char Dham Yatra had been completed successfully. She rarely posted anything on social media, but that day she uploaded a status saying “Yatra Puri”. “Now when I look back and connect all those incidents, it feels as if she had sensed that something unfortunate was going to happen.” 44 years together, she never complained Chandu said, “I married Nirmala on May 18, 1982. We spent nearly 44 years together. During this time, we had three children. We made our elder daughter Priyanka a doctor, helped our son Mayank complete his MBA and secure a good job, and supported our youngest daughter Deepashree in entering administrative services.” “Taking care of the children’s education, encouraging them, teaching them life lessons and helping them move ahead — Nirmala had the biggest contribution in all of this.” “Because of my busy journalism career, I could not give enough time to the family, but she fulfilled every responsibility of a wife, mother and homemaker with complete dedication.” “Whether it was looking after guests who visited our home or supporting me in my work, she never left anything incomplete. She never gave importance to her own likes and dislikes. Whatever she got in terms of clothes, food or lifestyle, she remained happy.” “She played a major role in taking our children from nothing to great heights. She herself was a graduate and always gave the highest importance to education. Until before the accident, she used to teach our grandchildren as well.” Loud impact woke me up, passengers from upper berths fell on us Chandu said, “I woke up around 2:30 am when a loud explosion-like sound occurred. We were sleeping on the lower berth of the sleeper bus. The collision was so intense that passengers sleeping on the upper berths fell on us.” “The bus and trailer collided in such a way that both vehicles got stuck together. Nirmala was sleeping near the window. After the collision, the trailer entered inside the bus by tearing through the body from that side.” “The portion near my seat was crushed. I feel passengers sitting near the window suffered the most serious head injuries. Nirmala probably also suffered severe injuries and died on the spot due to the impact and passengers falling over her.” I kept calling my wife, screams of ‘save us’ filled the bus Chandu said that immediately after the accident, he called out to Nirmala but received no response. “The entire bus was filled with smoke. There was chaos everywhere. Some people were shouting ‘save us’, while others were saying there had been an accident and the bus would catch fire.” “Nirmala’s one leg was stuck in the seat. I somehow pulled it out. There was no movement in her body. I tried to lift her, but someone pulled me from behind and said, ‘Do you want to die? The bus has caught fire.’ He forcibly brought me out.” “While coming out, I saw an injured person lying on the way. We also carried him and moved him to safety. After that, I ran back towards the bus to rescue Nirmala, but by then the fire had spread rapidly.” “The flames had reached the driver. His legs were stuck in the steering. He was burnt alive in front of my eyes. Two people tried to pull him out with a crowbar, but the fire was so intense that they had to step back.” Those 7-8 minutes destroyed my entire world Gupta said, “After the fire broke out, the explosions happening around us ended every hope. Those 7-8 minutes were the biggest moments of helplessness and helplessness of my life.” “My mobile phone was burnt, my clothes were burnt, and my wife remained inside the bus.” “I came out in whatever condition I was in. Many people were recording videos there, but when I asked someone for a phone, most people refused to give one. Finally, a young man gave me his phone and also offered water.” “At that moment, I could not even remember anyone’s number due to the shock. I only remembered my son’s number. I called him and only said that a very big accident had happened.” “Till around 8:30 am, I kept sitting there hoping that perhaps some miracle would happen, but it did not.” “After the accident, police, ambulances and fire brigade also arrived late. For me, those first 7-8 minutes were the heaviest, as they changed the direction of my entire life.” “Now the whole family is trying to recover from this grief. After all, time is the biggest healer.”