Kids in Seraj reel from scare of flashfloods, lose sleep

As dusk settles over the flashflood-hit villages of the Seraj Assembly constituency in Mandi district, deep grief on the faces of children is clearly visible in the glow of lights in relief camps. These children, till a few days ago, were carefree students, reading books and playing games, but now they are survivors of horrifying flashfloods, the nerve-wrecking memories of which haunt them incessantly.

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The devastating flashfloods in Seraj on the night of June 30 changed everything. Around 11 pm, torrential rain accompanied by frightening thunder battered hillsides. All houses were swept away. Families fled barefoot, carrying whatever little they could.

Among those who ran for their lives was Dushyant, a Class VIII student of Anah panchayat. “I was sleeping when my father shook me to waken me,” he recalls with his eyes set distant. “We grabbed nothing. We just ran,” he says.

Dushyant is now living in the Swandigala Rest House of the Jal Shakti Department. He is a student of Jaut High School, which is closed and his books, notebooks and dreams lie buried under debris.

Dushyant is not alone in suffering. Divya Bharti, a Class V student of Middle School, Kandi Tilli, shares a similar tale. She, too, lost all her school material. “I have lost my schoolbag, pencils and even my storybook,” she whimpers, sitting in a corner of the relief camp. Alongside her are five other children, all students and survivors of the rain disaster.

Laxmi, a bright Class XI student of Government Senior Secondary School, Bada, now studies under the open sky - or tries to do so. “We were lucky that we escaped flashfloods. I think about my schoolbooks that I have lost as I want to prepare for my exams, but don’t know how to do it now?” she says in a trembling voice.

Reena Devi (Class VII), Uma Bharti (Class V) and Gulshan (Class VI), all students of different schools in the Seraj region, have the same anguish and tales to relate. All of them were fast asleep when floodwaters wreaked havoc in their villages. Their parents scooped them up and ran, barefoot and terrified. The memories of life-threating and bone-chilling flashfloods and the gnawing worry of an uncertain future haunt them.

The trauma of the disaster runs deep. “I have nightmares of floodwaters coming again,” says Ajay Kumar, a Class XII student of Government Senior Secondary School, Bada. “We lost our house. My father carried my sick grandfather on his back as we ran for our lives.” While Ajay has received some notebooks and a uniform from the local administration, he has lost his textbooks that were crucial for his final school year.

Other students like Siroj Kumar (Class VII), Sushma (Class VIII), Bhupendra Kumari (Class XII) and Bhupender Kumar (Class XI) of the same school are also anxiously waiting for study material, feeling the pressure mounting with each passing day.

The situation is equally grim in nearby Thunag, where children are slowly returning to a fractured sense of normalcy, many of them still reeling from emotional and academic blows.

During a visit to the Seraj region in the aftermath of cloudbursts and resulting devastation, Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu had met with children staying in camps. He was moved by their simple question, “When can we go back to school?” and had promised them of swift action. “Do not worry. The government will ensure that you receive everything - books, notebooks, uniform,” he assured them.

Little Bupender Kumar sums it up aptly, “We have lost our homes, but please do not let us lose our future.”

The children of Seraj have shown courage beyond their age. Now, they wait not just for essential supplies, but also for return to a normal happy life that every child deserves: One of playfulness and dreaming without fear.