Grateful Agarwals collect Rs 1 lakh to send to tour operator who helped them return safely to Mumbai.Even as Mohammed Yaseen, a tour operator, saw his house gradually submerge in waters coming from the overflowing Dal Lake, leaving him and his family homeless, he decided that his priority was to ensure the safety of the Borivali-based Agarwal family which was visiting Srinagar. Four of the six Agarwals were senior citizens.Today, back in the safe confines of his house in IC Colony, Ramratan Agarwal, 70, who had reached Srinagar on September 4 along with his wife Kailash, 67, brother Purushottam, 65, his wife Kumkum, 60, and their grandchildren, says he will never forget what Yaseen did for them. The Agarwals, led by the daughter of Ramratan, have started pooling in funds for their ‘god-sent angel’ and have collected around Rs 1 lakh, which they plan to send to him.The family had booked an eightday itinerary and the tour was handled by Yaseen. They reached Srinagar on September 4 at noon. The next day they were told that the road to Pahalgam was blocked and by September 6 flooding had started. All this while, Yaseen assured them not to worry, wven though his own house was flooded and he had shifted his family to a nearby dargah.“By September 8 we were told that the situation was turning worse and we along with other tourists had to be shifted by boat to New Mamta Hotel close to Dal Gate. We were asked to go to Governor’s bungalow and told that choppers would air-lift people. We decided to stay in the hotel even as many tourists left. Soon, all the men returned to the hotel saying the conditions were extremely bad and they only airlifted women,” says Ramratan. Apart from worrying about the other family members, his biggest worry was for his wife, who is a diabetic and has a heart ailment. Since they were out for a tour, they had taken limited medicines.All this while, what struck the Agarwals was that Yaseen barely left their side in spite of his own personal loss and family being homeless. In fact, he managed to contact the worried relatives of the Agarwals back in Mumbai to tell them they were safe. “On September 10, he came to us and told us to be ready by 8 am the next day, telling us that he would himself drive us to the airport even if it meant taking the longest route possible. When we asked him about his family, he said they were surviving on langar food and his daughter was unwell. When we suggested that he go see them, he told us that he would not leave us as he might get stuck in a flood and not return. That would mean we were left alone. He slept that night in the vehicle,” reminisces Agarwal emotionally.While leaving on September 11 morning, around 14 other tourists asked if they could join the Agarwal family. “We had two vehicles and Yaseen kept checking and getting information from locals about rising waters. We drove through villages and hills and covered around 200 kilometres by road. We reached the airport at around 4pm, even though it was just a half hour away from where we stayed. Yaseen was not even ready to take money for the tour, saying we might need it. But we forced him to keep it,” says a family member.“In my 70 years of life I have not met a person like Yaseen. He was selfless and did not bother about himself, but ensured our safety. In a sense, all six of us owe our lives to him as we do not know what we would have done without him. His deed can’t be compensated by money but this is the least we can do for him,” says Ramratan.In spite of trying to contact Yaseen immediately after arriving in Mumbai on September 12, they managed to talk to him only on September 17. “He told us that he faced a lot of problems getting back home after dropping us off, but was happy that we were all safe,” says Ramratan.