The Hindu : New Delhi News : `I am so happy he is back'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Sep 04, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

`I am so happy he is back'

By Mandira Nayar

NEW DELHI, SEPT. 3 . It was an agonisingly long wait at Indira Gandhi International Airport here on Friday for the families of the three hostages -- Antaryami, Tilak Raj and Sukhdev Singh -- who returned home by a Kuwait Airways flight early in the morning. Having survived the anxiety of 41 days of their captivity, the last few hours before the flight finally landed seemed to drag on endlessly for relatives and friends who had travelled all the way to Delhi from Punjab and Himachal Pradesh to be part of this moment.

While the close relatives were whisked away by security personnel to wait inside the airport, distant cousins, friends and priest of the Antaryami's village temple paced outside killing time and constantly reiterating that they were "happy" to overeager television crews. It might have been a chance to grab their few seconds of fame for some, but for most it was an opportunity to express the genuine relief and gratitude.

"We never realised it was dangerous and only learnt of their kidnapping through the media. I opened the papers one day and found out that my cousin had been kidnapped. We have been waiting for 41 days for them to come back. I am so happy that he is back. We won't let him go away now. He will just have to stay in the village. There is no way that we are sending any of our relatives to any Gulf countries anymore,'' said R.K Singh a cousin of Antaryami.

And with an extra few hours being added to their arrival, it was difficult for the relatives to pass their time. "God seems to be testing us once again by delaying the flight. We had faith in God and the Government, but were always apprehensive and scared about their release. There have been many anxious moments in the past few weeks especially when we heard about the recent killings of the Nepalis in Iraq,'' said Sukhdev Singh's uncle, Gurudev Singh.

But there was a less `heavenly' test in store for them when the hostages walked out of the airport free at last. With the last few yards of separation before a reunion impossibly `far' for a number of cousins and uncles to bridge as the swarms of shutter-bugs and television cameras descended on them -- who are still to absorb the `gift' of their freedom -- it was a rather incomplete first meeting for relatives. Standing with a garland in his hand to embrace his cousin Antaryami, Mr. Singh had to wait for ages to snatch a few seconds with him. Trying to inch his way through the cameras, he found that the last few moments were probably just too long.

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