kolkata on independence day baren singh realised the true essence of freedom when he managed to board the last evacuation flight out of kabul before the chaos descended on the airport forcing airlines to suspend flights four days after he returned to his picnic garden home baren who was a chef in an army camp in kabul is still in a delirium over the close shave in the nick of time so long as he lives he is unlikely to forget the ride from the military camp to the airport it is barely a 20minute ride but that day it took hours the situation was very chaotic all over kabul there were huge crowds and traffic jams everywhere on the streets the air was taut with tension i fervently prayed that i would reach the airport without any untoward incident i am lucky to have made it out of kabul just before the taliban took over the capital recounted baren who reached kolkata a day later the reunion with wife roshni was an extremely emotional one roshni fasted on august 15 praying to jesus for his safe return the two are bengali christians it was such a relief to have him back four of his friends are still holed up there i pray for their return said roshnibaren who specialises in italian cuisine has worked in dubai kuwait and saudi arabia before taking up the assignment in afghanistan this is my second stint in afghanistan the first one lasted five years he said baren had returned there in 2019 and served in military bases in kandahar and jalalabad for the past five months he was in an army camp in kabul the situation started changing in july since we were not permitted to step out of the camp due to security reasons we could not gauge the tension outside but we could pick up snatches of conversations among soldiers and it became evident that something was cooking finally when the soldiers began to leave i too realized it was time to go he said for now baren is glad to be back home with roshni and son allen