Kochi, Apr 24 (PTI) “We thought it was fireworks at first.. But with the next shot, I knew, it was a terror attack,” said Arathi Menon, who witnessed her father N Ramachandran being gunned down before her eyes in one of the most serene corners of the Kashmir Valley.

Grappling with the trauma that shattered what was meant to be a tranquil family outing, Menon said she grabbed her children and just ran with no idea where she was going.

“My sons started screaming, and the man walked off. I knew my father was gone. I grabbed the boys and just ran–into the forest, with no idea where I was going,” she said, recounting how they wandered for nearly an hour through the wilderness.

Menon, her 65-year-old father, and her six-year-old twin sons were walking through a fenced grassland in Baisaran when the unimaginable happened. Her mother Sheela had stayed back in the car.

Ramachandran along with 25 others was killed by terrorists in the idyllic greens of Baisaran in Pahalgam.

“We crawled under the fence to escape. People scattered in all directions. As we were moving, a man emerged from the woods. He looked straight at us,” she said.

The stranger spoke words they couldn’t understand. “We replied, we don’t know. The next moment, he opened fire. My father collapsed beside us.” “I saw two men, but they weren’t wearing any soldier’s uniform,” she recalled.

When her phone finally picked up the signal, she called their driver, Musafir. “The ponies had started running too, and I just followed their footprints.” But amidst the horror, Menon also found compassion–from strangers who treated her like family. “My driver Musafir and another man, Sameer– they became my brothers. They stood by me through everything, took me to the mortuary, helped with the formalities. I waited there till 3 AM.” As she left Srinagar, Menon had one thing to say to them: “I have two brothers in Kashmir now. May Allah protect you both.” Even in the face of unbearable trauma, Menon found the strength to shield her loved ones from the harsh truth–especially her mother.

In the hours and days following the terrorist attack that claimed the life of her father, Menon took on the responsibility of bringing his body back to Kochi, all while keeping her mother unaware of the tragedy.

“I had to pretend to be strong,” she said quietly. “I couldn’t break down as I have to manage my mother and my children.” She told her mother that Ramachandran was injured and receiving treatment, concealing the reality to spare her the immediate shock.

To maintain the facade, she avoided answering calls from reporters and kept the television in their hotel room turned off.

“I only told her the truth after we landed in Kochi on Wednesday evening,” she said.

Menon, who works in Dubai and is currently in India for a short stay, had planned the family vacation to Kashmir carefully. They arrived in the Valley on the evening of April 21.

“I often go on trips. But this was the first time I had ever visited Kashmir,” she said.

The mortal remains of Ramachandran of Edappally, Kochi were brought to Kochi airport around 8 PM on Wednesday.

Ramachandran’s final rites will be held at the Edappally public crematorium at 11 AM on Friday, after being kept for public homage at Changampuzha Park, Edappally, from 7.30 AM to 9.30 AM.

Terrorists opened fire at a tourist location near Kashmir’s Pahalgam town on Tuesday afternoon, killing 26 people, mostly tourists. PTI ARM KH ROH