My first family trip in uttarakhand: It was 17th June’2013, 2.30 p.m. when I started my journey for a family trip. Occasion was I was trying to come out of mental fatigue plus my baby’s birthday on 19th June and anniversary on 21st June. Within 2 hours of the start, I received phone calls from parents about the flood situation in uk. I am from Odisha and that too from a low land area near river Mahanadi and I was casual with the news. Ok big deal, I said. I again, took nature, as granted. Next morning 6 a.m. we reached Haldwani junction, Uttarakhand. The plan was to go to Tanakpur by bus. In the bus stop, one bus was just starting for Tanakpur. Hurrily I went into, kept my luggage inside and the driver said it would take 4 hours. Good. The bus was almost empty. I never knew that it was the first bus to Tanakpur after 4 days of cancelled trips. Almost all the seats were wet. Somehow we searched for dry places and sat on semi-dry ones. Then the road further …Flooded for miles. Our bus went through it. Seemed like a cruise trip. On the left, there was the great Himalayan range visible and the scenery was impounding it’s majestic touch. We reached Tanakpur at around 10.30 a.m. The rickshaw guy took us to a hotel. There was no power supply there for last three days and as a result no water supply. Of course, it was not a resort. We managed a day there somehow with frequent power cuts and lack of water. I said to myself, well let see what nature stored ahead. Next morning, we travelled by a bus and the same fate again. It was the first bus to Pithoragarh after 5 days. Tourists were struck there for several days and that was the day they could come out. Seemed optimistic to me. The bus went through 4 hours of mountain ranges up and down and the roads so narrow on above 2,000 ft and in many places it looked like nature created few temporary water falls. Risky and dangerous it was. When we reached Lohaghat, it was 11.30 a.m. and we were 9 km away from our final destination. Advaita Ashram, Mayavati – The place I will never forget, as it added value so immense in my heart that now I believe – coming out of severe situations is like meeting your inner self face to face. Return journey was equally important. I will not share it now. Now I remember the odisha 1999 Super Cyclone and the time that was – I was trapped on an open road by the wrath of nature – tubelights and chokes flying near my ear and many more. Narrow escape and the events that followed and changed my life perception. May the self strength guide people struck in the calamity in uttarakhand towards the best of life experiences and make them stronger and enable them to serve mankind afterwards.
Posted on: Mon, 24 Jun 2013 06:16:23 +0000
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