Beauty and the wrath - in the beautiful lands...

Have been reading reports of the floods in Uttarakhand over the past 15-20 days. I had been there last August and a week or two before I went there were flash floods. But I never imagined the magnitude of floods to be as it is now.

While I was there I had seen land slides, fallen bridges, the tar of the roads swept away by rains make the rides bumpy. Had experienced the perils of driving in the rainy weather on the winding narrow roads sitting next to the driver in a small bus. On one side was a mountainous “wall”, that could give way anytime and rain boulders, stones, pebbles and soil, and anything that the loosened earth from the rains had in it, which was just yielding to gravity. On the other side were the deep valleys, beautiful for an onlooker but if the vehicle lost control, hardly anything recognizable could be retrieved.

Can you spot the road there?!

Rubble from a land slide...

Life there is not easy like in the plains, everyday is an adventure if you think about it. The most beautiful picturesque river can wash everything in the way if the rains persist. I remember so distinctly sitting on the banks of river Ganga in Haridwar, just keeping my legs in the water sitting on the steps – that itself kind of scared me, because the current of the river was so strong and just the immersion of a few centimeters of myself was enough to make me feel like being carried away by the mighty river. I am talking of the calmer times of the river when the river was flowing well within the danger limits. Imagining the ferocity of the river during the floods is plain scary.

A bridge view of civilization on the banks... 

Some say the calamity is man-made, deforestation loosens the soil, the washed away soil increases the level of the water in rivers, the rivers gets ruthless almost to the extent of wiping out the very civilization it had created around the banks.

My sincere wish is to preserve the forests, rivers, valleys, lakes and mountains of Uttarakhand, it is the land of a lot of the most beautiful places on earth. 

Engulfing beauty - a blissful feeling!

I have had spiritual experiences just looking at the wonderful natural wonders here. May peace and green prevail.

Picturesque journeys, happy memories!