The Himalayas are heavenly. Tremendous serenity resides there. Peace is powerful in those sky scraping mountains. Every which way the land of fairies as per the local folk tales, this abode of gods is prayer incarnate.
Yet human beings being what they are, they have made these gorgeous gorges and translucent rivers n scenic vistas in to either a death trap (as with the scaling of the Mount Everest and the terrible traffic jam there!) or 'dead-ly', in all senses of the term, what with the Raja Suryavanshi case or now the missing Babita Pandey mystery!
What/how is the actual Himalayan journey? First and foremost, the Himalayas are fragile. The rock structure is not the Sahyadri solid basalt. A comparatively younger mountain range, the tectonic plates below are afloat still, and are constantly clashing against each other. The entire area is dangerously prone to the 'huge on the richter scale' earthquake.
Given the environmental issues across the world, the glaciers are melting fast and furiously. In the process, they are creating artificial lakes which can burst at any second. The climate of the entire region is highly volatile. Anything can happen any second.
The worst, however, is that trade called tourism. For the 'ease of doing' that business, huge mountain cliffs are being drilled out, cut open at the base. Both the Joshi Math issue and the Harali flood are trade-offs of that heartless manipulation without any conscience. Two-storeyed hotels and/or home stays are built literally in the river bed!
The Himalayan rivers are not very deep, but they have a terrible speed and force, given the gravitational pull. They are, moreover often in spate, given the horrible rains any second and/or the melting ice.
The roads are narrow n winding beyond belief. Boulders tumbling down is quite normal. Horrible, however, is the traffic. At times, it seems a traffic jam can last for six/seven hours! Drivers, riders, moreover, are up to silly stunts which can land the creeps in to a steep free fall of thousands of meters.
THE worst are the tourists and trekkers. On a narrow strip of a mountainous road as wide as the Tulshibaug Lane, there are shops, hotels, pedestrians, pittoos, palakhi-wallahs and horses ferrying the tourists.
No, they are not pilgrims. They are silly tourists, busy taking pics n selfies, making reels, dirtying that great presence. Most mendicants, almost réplicating the mindset of the hotel owners there, are no good either. Everything and anything is sheer manipulation for money.
The Nepali palakhi-wallahs and pittoo-wallahs can quote any amount as charges. There is no control on how they or the horse/house owners treat the tourists. Given the vagaries of the climate, the helicopter service, often operational mercenarily, gets grounded any minute.
Most importantly, there is rampant corruption. The tour guide of the company I travelled with was openly boasting that he could block the entire registration of the day! He openly stated, and most all agreed, that the officers' 'cut' is mandatory and normal! No way of knowing if the permits issued to the pittoo/palakhi-wallahs or the horse owners are genuine, how often they are renewed honestly and validly!
Any minute horses are released in the path of ponies. The pittoo/palakhi-wallahs as well as the horses are carried horribly close to the edge of the deep ravines. Given the huge traffic, it is literally as if all are awaiting a huge calamity, a tragedy truly of Himalayan proportions, especially due to human stupidity, cupidity and limitless greed and avarice! Oh, Lord, save the Himalayas from humans!
Pratima@ The "devbhoomi" must be devoutly dedicated to that unique beauty, that vast grandeur, that pure piety called the "abode of gods", the Himalayas.
Quote of the day: "While mountains provide us with challenge and nourish our spirits, they are also powerful and potentially destructive places that must be respected." Touché, indeed, Mike Hamill.
Word of the day: mercenary A mercenary is either a professional soldier hired to fight in a foreign army or, more broadly, anyone motivated entirely by financial gain rather than ethics, loyalty, or principles.
