At the site of the Silkyara-Bend-Barkot-Tunnel collapse, 600-800 people swarm around a mountain already burdened with construction material and the fervour of 7.6 lakh pilgrims headed to Yamunotri, the source of the Yamuna river in Uttarakhand. Over 56 lakh people travelled to the four holy shrines — Gangotri, Kedarnath, and Badrinath — as part of the Char Dham Yatra this year.
It is 14°C in the afternoon, at about 1,100 metres, and above sea level, all that’s available by way of food is chawal and a watery dal, eggs, aloo paratha, and Maggi, India’s ubiquitous hill station staple. But the rescuers, workers, journalists, and villagers who have come to watch the operations don’t complain. Inside the tunnel, they know that 41 men lived only on dry food — puffed rice and nuts — for nine days, until a pipe 15cm in diameter was pushed through the rubble, and some warm khichdi passed down in bottles.
