Ravinder Kaur, a social studies teacher, would never return to school. Her death in a freak incident on Wednesday will remain etched in the memory of her colleagues and family, who are left devastated by the sudden tragedy.
Kaur was her usual self, joking and chatting with her colleagues and making plans to celebrate her teenaged son’s birthday when the roof of the staff room at the government senior secondary school in Baddowal in Ludhiana collapsed.
As the news of Kaur’s death reached the school premises soon after she was rushed to the hospital, where she was declared brought dead, shell shocked colleagues broke into tears and could not believe what just happened on an otherwise routine working day at school.
Heart rendering scenes were witnessed when 10 to 15 teachers present in the reception area of the school were seen wailing and consoling her husband Mandeep Singh, who came rushing to the school on getting to know about the incident.
Trying to come to terms with the tragedy, teachers recalled how only a few minutes prior to the incident, Kaur was her normal self, chatting and making plans to celebrate her teenaged son’s birthday.
{{/usCountry}}Trying to come to terms with the tragedy, teachers recalled how only a few minutes prior to the incident, Kaur was her normal self, chatting and making plans to celebrate her teenaged son’s birthday.
{{/usCountry}}“I will celebrate my son’s birthday in the hotel this time and give him a surprise,” her colleagues recalled Kaur saying during the lunch hour in the staff room.
Around 16 teachers were having lunch from 11.40 am to 12 noon in the staff room. After 40 minutes when the incident took place, only four teachers were left in the room, including Ravinder Kaur, Narinderpal Kaur, Indu Rani and Sukhdeep Kaur as rest of the teachers had left for their classes.
As the news of the tragedy spread, remaining teachers said they were fortunate to have a narrow escape and their family members were seen frantically calling them to ask if they were alright.
Fellow staff members in the school were crying when Ravinder and another teacher Narinderpal were taken out by the ITBP teams from the debris of the roof collapse. Both the teachers were unconscious at that time.
Residents of the village and school auto drivers stated that in a couple of months ever since she was transferred here from Noorpur Bet, Ravinder had gelled with students and their parents.
One of the auto drivers, Balbir Singh said, “Ravinder Kaur was very good natured as she always greeted us with a smile and always asked me about my health. In a few months Ravinder Kaur has made very good friends with the school teachers and other staff members”.
One of the female staff members, while crying in the reception area of the school recalled that she was very jovial. They recalled how she was giving them lessons in fitness and joking how she brought salad in her tiffin to remain fit.
The deceased’s mother-in-law, who was also present at the spot, was seen weeping when she was taken out by the ITBP team. Some of the teachers were seen helping her mother-in-law as she was not able to stand properly while seeing her condition.