Kolkata, April 24 (PTI) A sudden craving for lunch and a spontaneous detour to a Shiva temple turned out to be lifesavers for two honeymooning couples from West Bengal in Pahalgam.

What seemed like ordinary choices led them away from the path of a deadly terror attack.

On April 22, a terror strike in the scenic tourist hub claimed the lives of 25 Indian tourists and a Nepali national.

According to eyewitness accounts, the gunmen allegedly asked for religious identities before opening fire — a massacre that has triggered national outrage and mourning.

But amidst the horror, tales of miraculous escapes have emerged — stories of fate, divine intervention, or just luck, depending on whom you ask.

Debraj Ghosh and his wife were all set to visit the famed Baisaran Valley that day.

Ponies were booked, bags packed and the couple — barely a few months into their married life — was eager for their mountain adventure.

Debraj believes a simple lunch break saved his life.

He had stepped away from the bustling market area to grab a quick meal when the deafening sound of gunfire shattered the calm.

Reacting instinctively, he rushed back into the hotel he had just exited and took cover inside, staying hidden as chaos unfolded outside.

“We were about to step into the main market when I suddenly felt hungry and told my wife, “Let’s eat first.” That random craving saved our lives, Debraj said.

“The moment I heard the first burst of gunfire, I pulled my wife inside the hotel. We didn’t move, didn’t speak. Just prayed it would pass,” he told a Bengali news channel from Srinagar.

As bullets rang out and panic gripped the area, Debraj remained sheltered within the hotel, narrowly escaping the carnage that claimed dozens of lives just a few hundred meters away.

Another couple from Nadia district, Sudipta Das and his wife, credit a visit to a Shiva temple for their survival.

“We had planned for Baisaran too,” Das said over the phone from Srinagar.

“But my wife felt a divine call to visit a nearby Shiva temple instead,” Das said.

The couple had just finished offering prayers when their driver broke the news — firing had erupted barely a kilometre away.

“Had we not gone to the temple, we would be dead. This is nothing short of Lord Shiva’s grace,” he said.

Three tourists from West Bengal were killed in the attack.

The brutality — especially the alleged targeting of Hindu tourists — has sent shockwaves across the country, with calls for tighter security and accountability.

For the two newlywed couples, it was supposed to be the beginning of a beautiful chapter.

Little did they know, their first brush with fate would arrive so soon — on a pony trail they never took and at a temple where life found them just in time. PTI PNT MNB