Just back from Kedarnath Om Sri Sairam 32 members of Our overnight meditation team and their families -ventured out as usual on their yearly trip to Himalayas. On 8th Jun. This time the chosen venue: Kedarnath. With abundant divine grace returned safely just few hours before the devastation started. It was too close and dreadful to think. We were at Kedarnath on 13th Jun. Kedar was preparing for the worst. Yet to come. The weather deteorated badly and the copter services suspended. Five of our team fell sick due to lack of oxygen and bad weather and all five brought down by the last helicopter sortie. After that the services stopped. The rest had to trek down in Ponies. Pic on the left: The last helicopter service at Kedarnath picking up the suffering members of our team .. The rest had to come down on Ponies.. And we rushed downstream towards Rishikesh all the while chanting and singing bhajans. While the mayhem started in Kedarnath on 15th night onwards, we were on the riverbed camp 14 kms away from Rishikesh overnight. The incessant rain just started and the water level in Ganges at doorstep soared. In panic we packed up at 5 a.m and hurried down towards Hardwar. Pic on the right: Our team on the banks of Ganges... not knowing that the disaster is round the corner.. about to strike soon.... A few hours after we left Hardwar,on 16th ,hell broke lose and all those who were in all the four dhams were trapped including another group from our same tour operator. The rest is all that we see in the channels non stop. Thousands are still trapped. Our hearts go out for them. We keep praying to Swami for their safe return. And rededicate ourselves to Seva the purpose for which we were given the special privilige of returning safely without getting trapped. The disaster may be Man-made But our escape plan was God-made. ---------------------- Now is the seva time..... The worst scenario is - the relatives waiting here not knowing whether their dear ones are alive and if so where. We suggested a simple solution and submitted to the channels/authorities. There are many pockets where people are stranded and helicopter sorties are made to and fro airlifting only 5-6 people a trip while the waiting ones are in thousands. The helicopters can take a small drop box in the first trip and leave there and distribute a blank white card to all those stranded with pencils to write. And ask all of them to fill the names of their relatives and contact numbers and their short message of two lines and put in the box. Then come back without the box but only with first batch of five. In the next sortie the filled box can be carried back with the next batch and given to NGO volunteers at the base camp who will be too willing to send the messages by sms to all mentioned in the cards. By this simple exercise all stranded who are accessed by sorties can be mapped instantly and their relatives connected. We even volunteered to do this seva if allowed. We plan to visit the base camps at Dehradun to explore this Seva and other possibilities to serve differently as in any case there would be a massive supply of traditional items from all over the country with many NGOs pitching in. Sairam r.chandrashekar ChemburDust Just short of becoming Himalayan Dust...
Posted on: Tue, 25 Jun 2013 19:13:12 +0000
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