Seven days ago, Vinay Narwal and Himanshi Swami tied the knot at an intimate ceremony in Mussoorie. The young couple – Narwal, a 26-year-old lieutenant of the Indian Navy, and Swami, a 24-year-old doctoral student – met through family connections and fell in love. After exchanging vows, the couple decided to travel to Switzerland for their honeymoon, but visa delays nixed their plans.
Instead, the couple decided to travel to Kashmir’s Pahalgam Valley, specifically Baisaran, a picturesque valley of lush rolling meadows and pine forests that locals often call ‘mini Switzerland’. The plan was to spend a few days in Kashmir before returning to Narwal’s post in Kochi.
That was not to be. Narwal was among the 26 tourists gunned down by terrorists in a brazen attack in Kashmir on Tuesday afternoon. As photographs of Swami sitting hapless next to his lifeless body were beamed into stunned drawing rooms across the country, it brought home the numbing horror of terror, and shattered the spirit of two families joined in grief.
Asha Narwal, Narwal’s mother, was still receiving congratulatory messages from neighbours near their house in Sector 7 of Karnal town, when the news broke. “We all celebrated the marriage just three days ago and didn’t know this could happen to us,” said Narwal’s grandfather Hawa Singh.
Swami’s aunt Babita, who reached the family residence in Gurugram’s Sector-47 on Wednesday from Narnaul, said a distraught Swami told her younger brother Lakshit over the phone that terrorists killed Narwal.
{{/usCountry}}Swami’s aunt Babita, who reached the family residence in Gurugram’s Sector-47 on Wednesday from Narnaul, said a distraught Swami told her younger brother Lakshit over the phone that terrorists killed Narwal.
{{/usCountry}}“Their photos started circulating everywhere across social media and news through which we also identified them,” she said.
Babita said the couple got married on April 16 and reached Gurugram on Sunday from Karnal. “They distributed sweets to several people and then left for their honeymoon to Kashmir on Monday,” she said.
Narwal’s father Rajesh Narwal, an official in the Haryana excise department, left immediately for Pahalgam, accompanied by his younger daughter Srishti and Swami’s devastated parents, Sunil Dutt and Poonam Swami.
“I reached here today. Himanshi and her parents will travel to Karnal with Vinay’s mortal remains,” Babita said, biting back tears.
On Wednesday, as the family came to terms with the heartbreaking news, a wreath-laying ceremony was held at the Cargo Terminal in Delhi airport, before Narwal’s mortal remains were sent to Karnal.
Grieving family members, close friends, and relatives gathered to pay tributes as did Delhi chief minister Rekha Gupta and Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party chief Virendraa Sachdeva.
Swami stood inconsolable at the tear-drenched ceremony. “I hope his soul rests in peace. He lived a good life. He made us really proud, and we should keep this pride in every way,” she said, her voice trembling with emotion before she broke down.
Narwal was serving at the Southern Naval Command in Kochi for the past one-and-a-half years after joining the Navy in 2022. “The Chief of the Naval Staff, Admiral Dinesh K Tripathi, and all personnel of the Indian Navy are shocked and deeply saddened by the tragic loss of Lt Vinay Narwal, who fell victim to the dastardly terror attack in Pahalgam,” the Navy spokesperson said in a post on X.
Back inside his house in Karnal, Narwal’s wedding sherwani still hung in a wardrobe. Strewn around the room were other fragments of a life of marital bliss being planned together, and a travel bag, half unpacked, telling the story of a journey brutally cut short.