DIVALI DISASTER

DIVALI Preparations ended tragically for one family in Barrackpore when a fire destroyed their home on Sunday evening.

Homeless are father Baldeo Sookgrim and his 20-year-old daughter Vashana Sookrim a primary school teacher.

The father and daughter had left their home at Rochard Road on Sunday evening after placing deyas inside and outside to mark the celebrations.

They planned to light the deyas later that night when they returned home. But they did not get a chance to do so as the elder Sookgrim received a phone call from neighbours that his house was on fire.

According to a police report, the fire started in a bedroom located downstairs of the two-story house at about 4.30 pm that day.

“Everything is gone, gone just like that gone.” the emotional father cried while speaking to Newsday.

He said all years of his hard work vanished in flames before his eyes and there was nothing he could do to stop it.

“I came to see my house in flames. This was not the Divali we had planned for.

"My daughter and I had been preparing for this day for a while. Divali is a sacred and special time for us. It is traditional that we set deyas around the house and light them in the night,” he said as he searched through the rumbles of the house picking up the burnt deyas.

Also, two of his three cars were destroyed in the fire.

“I could sleep last night. I am thankful that the fire did not happen when we were inside the house but just knowing that you and your child don’t have shelter can break any father. I feel so helpless. I wish it was a dream.”

Up to late yesterday, firemen at the Princes Town Fire Station were trying to ascertain the cause of the fire. Barrackpore police are investigating.