Eternity of Ten Seconds - A Bone Chilling Incident
Early morning of 19-Sep-2010: I struggled to open my sleep-deprived eyes. My body felt heavy like a stone; every bone was screaming in pain. On top of me, two piled-up quilts fended off relentlessly, the severe cold at 12,000 ft. altitude.
Making the wooden window ajar, I peeped
out and the howling wind scared the hell out of me. The tall, snow-clad
mountain peaks at a distance were boldly withstanding the onslaught of the
stormy weather.
All my clothes were completely wet from
the previous day's hellish two-hour slow ascent on the back of a mule. Not
having any choice, I put them on and came out of the small guest while
shivering unremittingly. I bowed in front of the shrine one more time and
prayed to Lord Shiva for safe passage, before commencing my journey from
Kedarnath to Gaurikund in the Himalayas – a descent of 14 km with an altitude
drop of 6,000 ft.
The monsoon in the hilly Uttarakhand
state was quite severe that year. From Rishikesh to Gaurikund the journey had
taken two days interspersed by several fearful landslides. My car was stuck for up
to six hours before the roads were cleared and opened for traffic. Traveling
alone I had lost contact with my family due to a very poor mobile network,
creating panic back home as the TV channels had reported several deaths from
the landslides. This I had come to know only later.
But luckily all these were things of the past as I had managed to reach Kedarnath the previous day, had a peaceful darshan[1]
of Lord Shiva[2],
and retired for the night, dead tired.
I started walking down looking for a
mule owner but strangely enough, I could not find a single mule though the
previous day there were scores of them trotting on the walkway or waiting on
the side. I stopped by a tea stall and upon inquiry learned that due to the
torrential rain from the previous day, no pilgrim was allowed to come up from
Gaurikund by the local administration as they apprehended more landslides.
Hence the non-availability of mules as they were taken back to Gaurikund the
previous evening by their owners as a routine practice.
I stood there transfixed, not knowing
what to do. The weather was scary and there was not a single person on the
road. I needed to return anyhow as my long return journey to Mumbai via
Rishikesh and New Delhi was already arranged in terms of train reservation,
flight booking, etc.
But due to my hurting knees and
recurring back pain, I was not sure if I was ready for the descent. After all,
it would be a fourteen-kilometer solo downhill trek in a very challenging
situation.
‘Sahib, the only option is to go down
on foot. Walk carefully, chant the name of Lord Shiva, and yes, be alert as
rocks may roll down or landslide can happen all of a sudden.’ The shopkeeper
advised and my heart started fluttering in fear. So taking a deep breath and
closing my eyes, I took the bold decision to walk down to Gaurikund alone!
With a bamboo stick for support and a
mind soaked in fear, I started the journey. The stormy wind was howling
viciously like an old witch, switching the direction of the lashing raindrops
from one side to the other, assaulting my face relentlessly. To my right, the
majestic dark mountains were staring silently at me. To my left, the Mandakini
River was gushing down torrentially, clashing with the big rocks that were
obstructing her and creating a violent bone-chilling noisy scene.
Across the river, the majestic mountain
peaks stood up several thousand feet piercing the cloudy dark sky.
Occasionally, I would jump up at the sound of a large rock rolling down the
mountain face and crashing into the river with a loud bang. Overall, Nature’s
fury was so menacing to witness that I repeatedly closed my eyes in fear. I
felt as if Lord Shiva was performing Tandava
Nritya[3]
in His furious form.
With not a single soul around, the
atmosphere made me realize – how powerless we mere mortals are, in front of
Mother Nature! Automatically, I started chanting, ‘Om Namah Shivaya!’ seeking protection from Lord Shiva as I plodded
ahead.
Time passed very slowly, my lower back started
hurting and my weak knees were about to give up anytime. I had developed
blisters on my feet and every step caused excruciating pain. I was forced to
take a break every 15-20 minutes and somehow trudged ahead covering only 2 -
2.5 kilometres every hour. After about five long hours, only a kilometre was
left to reach Gaurikund, and felt somewhat relieved.
I arrived at a sharp turn that had
blocked the view ahead. The moment I crossed it, I froze on the spot horrified
by what I saw. At this place the previous day, there was a benign waterfall,
gently flowing along the face of the mountain and beneath the road through a
culvert, to join the Mandakini River. But due to the incessant rain, the
waterfall had monstrous in size, completely covering some 20 feet length of the
road, and dropping menacingly from a height of about 200 ft.
I stood agape, not knowing how was I
going to walk through this monster safely? A Myriad of thoughts and worries
inundated my mind.
I did not have the option to wait there
as it was already afternoon. In the middle of nowhere in the Himalayas, there
was no shelter to spend the night if I wanted to wait and see if the waterfall
receded the next morning. Spending the night in the open would be suicidal as I
would have frozen to death in a 'sub-zero' temperature or would have been killed
by wild animals.
It was impossible to turn around and
walk uphill back to the Kedarnath due to my pathetic physical state. I
shuddered at the thought of taking the risk and walking through the dangerous
waterfall, but that was the only option left for me. It would result in either survival through
the ordeal or getting swept into the watery grave-in-waiting down below–River
Mandakini!
My eyes became moist at the thought of
my family. These were perhaps the last few moments of my life! Images of my
wife and son came floating into my mind and a deep sadness filled my heart.
All of a sudden a large rock rolled
down the hill rapidly and whizzed past me like a rocket barely a few feet away
as if warning me that it was not safe to be there any longer. I was jolted out of my contemplation and had
to decide with no further delay.
The voice of the tea stall owner in
Kedarnath rang in my ear, ‘Sahib, walk carefully and chant the name of Lord
Shiva.’ It gave me strength and I finally made up my mind to walk through the
waterfall. But then the other side of my mind warned, ‘Beware dipstick! Do you
realise that you are foolishly inviting your end?’
With a deep breath and a pounding heart
I took a step forward chanting, ‘Om Namah
Shivaya!’ All I could see was the menacing waterfall waiting to swallow me.
My heart was thumping like a drum and my heartbeats became faster and faster.
The moment I entered the waterfall, the
free-falling water stream started hammering my head incessantly. My weak legs
struggled to move ahead on the pebble-strewn road as I could not see anything
ahead. But as a man possessed, I continued chanting Lord Shiva's name loudly
and managed to cross half the distance. But just then I lost my balance and
fell.
It would be difficult to explain how I
felt at that moment. In a flash, the fear of getting swept away, the thought of
death, and the worry for my family, all raced across my mind. There was not a
soul nearby who could assist me. I felt death stood nearby, ready to take me
away into an unknown world – something that words can’t express properly.
Not succumbing to the fear, I somehow
got up and walked wobbly through the rest of the waterfall. Once out of it I dragged
myself some more distance, sat down on a rock, closed my eyes, and took a few
deep breaths.
I felt genuinely happy to be alive! I
looked back at the huge waterfall and realised how I got into a situation that
had compelled me to take such a dangerous and risky decision. The ten seconds
that I took to cross the waterfall seemed like an eternity!
I sincerely thanked Lord Shiva for
giving me another life. I felt, my faith in Him was put to test through that
ordeal.
(Read this and other short stories in my eBook available on Amazon
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