Abu Dhabi: Abu Dhabi chef Purab Singh Rawat was looking forward to his vacation this August. He was excited about the new house he was constructing in Ghansali in Uttarakhand, India
Rawat who draws a salary of Dh15,00 working at Masala Magic restaurant had saved for years to build his dream home.
But as luck would have it, the recent Uttarakhand floods washed away the house and his dream.
“The water came in such force it took away everything,” a distraught Rawat told XPRESS. “I am devastated. We had been eagerly waiting to move to the new house. Obviously, that is not happening. Everything has been destroyed,” he said.
There was another tragedy awaiting Rawat. His father who had been unwell for sometime also passed away. “That’s destiny,” said Rawat.
Rawat has been in Abu Dhabi for four years.
He got the house constructed when he went to India for vacation last year.
“We had always stayed in a rented house so I thought we need to have something for ourselves. I told my family we will get the house ready as I had managed to save up some money. I spent around Rs500,000 (Dh30,487) on the new house and we had to pay another Rs300,000 to finish it,” he said.
Rawat said a few days after the disaster, some government officials visited his place but he doesn’t see much hope in that. “My family told me that they took some pictures and made an assessment of the damage.
“But I really don’t know whether we will be getting any help,” he said.
Despite his loss, Rawat is determined to rebuild his house.
“Raising the money will be a huge challenge, but we have no option. We have our fields. We have been living there for ages. We can’t leave the place suddenly and go elsewhere. I have decided to construct the house again and hopefully it should be ready by next year.
“I want to have it complete before my dad’s first year death anniversary. It will be my tribute to him,” he said.
