‘Harsh died doing what he loved the most’

KOLKATA: Family members of 25-year-old Harsh Mohta, who died along with a friend during an adventure sports trip in Shillong on Sunday evening, remembered him as an extremely daring and confident person, who died doing what he loved the most — adventure.
“The vacuum he has left behind can never be filled but I am at least happy that he died doing something he loved the most.He had dedicated his life to travel and adventure sports. The fact that one of his friends also died in an attempt to save him speaks highly of the kind of good soul he was. Probably he was too good for the earth and that is why God took him away so early,” said Nikita Mohta, Harsh’s sister, speaking to TOI at her Beliaghata apartment on Tuesday.

An avid trekker who kept uploading interesting Instagram stories about his travels, Harsh and four of his friends from their alma mater St Paul’s School, Darjeeling, were at Shillong to attend the NH7 Weekender music festival from where they went for an adventure trip. The five reportedly left for Lyngksiar river, about 5km from Sohra in Cherrapunji. Police said Harsh had jumped into the river from a cliff and started struggling after diving in. Seeing his friend in danger, Vivek Dhar dived in to save him but both of them drowned, police had said. Harsh had recently joined their family business.
While Vivek’s last rites were performed at Shillong on Monday, Harsh’s body was flown in a coffin to Kolkata on Monday evening. “He was supposed to return home in the same flight for Dhanteras and Diwali when our entire family stays together. But this time he came in a coffin,” said Nikita, who studies at Delhi University and was only informed about her brother’s death upon reaching the airport on Monday.
The entire residential complex was mourning Harsh’s death after his last rites were performed at Nimtala crematorium in the early hours of Tuesday. While his father attended to relatives with a heavy heart at their first floor flat at Tower 2 of Sunrise Tower, his mother spent time alone at the kitchen preparing food and beverages for the visitors.
“This was supposed to be a day of celebration. Harsh was a lovely young man who loved travelling and doing all sorts of adventure sports. A few months ago, he spent a vacation at Vietnam and next month he was scheduled to leave for Cambodia,” said a relative who lives in the same complex.
While highlighting the risk of loss of life during adventure sports, city sports enthusiasts and trainers suggested that the tourists should always respect nature and desist from acting rash in an unfamiliar terrain.
“Adventure is walking into the wild, trekking along a mountain slope, rafting down a river. It is about the experience in the lap of nature and not being adventurous. But I am wary about selfies and the propensity to take photographs at the edge of a cliff. That is why I do not allow children to carry cellphones on a trek,” said Joydeep Ghoshal of Juniper Wings that conducts treks and adventure tourism with school students.
“Rivers in the Hills can be particularly deceptive. There can be flash floods due to release of water stored up the river if a breach occurs in a naturally occurring dam,” said Rajat Dey, who had earlier gone rafting in the Teesta. St Paul’s School officials posted two school day photographs of Harsh and Vivek. Responding to the post, Sunirmal Chakravarthi, a former teacher of the school and ex-principal of La Martinere Kolkata, said: “Terribly shocked that two young lives were lost doing what they loved — living a life of adventure and fun.”