Sunanda Pushkar, daughter of LT Col (retd) PN Dass, had served at Centur Hotel Srinagar in late 80's. Her family hailed from Bommai town, Sopore, the hard bed of terrorism in the Valley. She was probably the first girl from the area to have done diploma in hotel management.
According to her family friend, who would regularly visit hotels, said when he last visited the hotel in 1985, he could not believe that Kashmiri girl from Bomai town could speak in English and have refined mannerism.
"She was quite active even then and I could sense that she will make it big," he said, wishing not to be named.
"I was a regular visitor to the Centur hotel. In my last visit there in 1985, on seeing her working, I couldn't comprehend that a Kashmiri girl from Bomai has such fine manner and could talk in highly sophisticated English," said a family friend.
Dass family was considered one of the most powerful and influential families of Bomai. The family owned cars in early 70's, a rarity then.
"I was a regular visitor to the Centur hotel. In my last visit there in 1985, on seeing her working, I couldn't comprehend that a Kashmiri girl from Bomai has such fine manner and could talk in highly sophisticated English," said a family friend.
Dass family was considered one of the most powerful and influential families of Bomai. The family owned cars in early 70's, a rarity then.
Though the family had settled in Jammu, before the onset of terrorism in the Valley in 90's, her father had said their ancestral home was burned by terrorists.
In 2007, her first husband died.