Tuesday, February 22, 2005

Movie script or a real life story...?

6 people take up a journey to Vaishno Devi. Well to be precise..2 moms and 4 kids. I would like to call them kids coz evn if they are somewat grownups they still behave like kids.

These 6 people board the train from Delhi to Jammu. They are all happy, giggling and joking. They are enjoying each other's company esplecially coz they are all together after a long time..almost two years. They reach Jammu. It is raining. They take up a local cab and reach Katra, rest for a while in a hotel room and dress up to start their Yatra for the Holy Shrine. It is cold and raining. But they are still in their jovial moods and continue with the jokes and PJ's. They take raincoats on hire from a local shop, buy the Yatra tickets, have food and start with the Yatra. Everything is going fine, just as they expected to be. Except for the rain, which they are not much bothered about. Just when they start their Yatra they hear that it has started snowing at the peak of the mountain, where they have to go. They all get really excited and look forward for hitting snowballs on each other, click pictures on the snow beds and have an adventurours trip.

Well, they do have an adventureous trip. Chanting 'Jai Mata Di', they walk up the steep mountain. They click pictures, hit each other with snowballs, check if the water tank has ice or water and many such silly things. Then they reach the Bhawan. They keep their belongings (raincoats, shoes etc.) in the cloack room. They are feeling really cold barefeet but they think that once they enter the line for the Darshan it is going to be ok. They walk of the snow barefeet to reach that point only to stand for 45 minutes on snow because the Aarti is going on and no Darshan is allowed. One-by-one all of them start to feel uncomfortabe because of the cold and chill under their feet, but still they continue to struggle with all this. Just when they are about to gather some courage to stand with the chill, one of the kids observes that there is something wrong with her mom. She rushes to her mom and start to rub her legs to give her some warmth. After sometime, she sees there is something else happening now. Now, the mother was getting unconcious. The kid is scared and calls for the other 4 for help. Even the people standing next to them in the line help them keep the mother's body warm. They help the 5 people rub her. The youngest seeing her aunt in such a condition started crying, another kid tries to take care of her. The eldest trying his best to give warmth to his mother and seeing her like that burst out crying. Seeing this, the last kid who was trying to control her tears and was trying to act as couragoues as possible losses all courage and some tears do fall. But nothing could stop these kids from getting their mother back to normal. With someone rubbing her feet/back/hands, one kid was continously chanting 'Jai Mata Di' in her ears to make sure she doesnt slip into unconsiousness. Just when the darshan were opened again for the public after the aarti, the mother was feeling better. It was difficult but they did it. The kids couldn't stop thanking god for giving their mom back to them. All of them taking care of each other and one kid chanting 'Jai Mata Di' on top of her voice enter the Holy Shrine for the darshan. They finally get to have a nice darshan, which makes them feel so much better and fulfilled. They come out of the Shrine, visit a dispensary, take some medicines for the mother and whoever was feeling a bit uneasy, and the kids decide that they will stay there overnight and start the Yatra for Katra not before sunrise. They have their food, and heavy snowfall starts. Their plan is ruined and they have to start their Yatra back at that moment coz they know that the Yatra would be closed with such a heavy snowfall and if they stop they would be stuck for nobody knows how many days.

Again, chanting 'Jai Mata Di' they start their Yatra. They are not much worried coz they know that it is more difficult climbing up the mountain, which they have already done but they don't knw what awaits ahead. They make a good balance of walking on ice and they get used to the grip they need to have. After sometime, they are at a very steep slope, there occurs a thunder-lightining just above their head and the lights went off. All the people present there are scared. It is pitch dark and one can't evn see the person standing just one step ahead. Everybody present there holds each other's hands and again start their Yatra.

Just when they think that it is gonna be all fine now, they reach a point where they experience snow blizzards. Luckily, there is a govt. hospital and they take shelter there. 20-30 people inside one room waiting for the weather to calm down. There was a lot of body warmth in the room which made everyone very comfortable in the room. Slowly the blizzard calmed down, some people leave but these 6 with 2 men accompanying them continue to take shelter. They decide that they will not leave before sunrise but just then one of the hospital authorities comes and says there are 2 dead bodies on their way to this hospital. They died due to cold and they would be put in the same room as they were seated in. These 8 people then decide to leave. The blizzard was not very calm but still they gather the courage and cross that area. They were led by one of the men who were accompanying them, he told them where there was a steep turn or where there was water. Whoever he was, but he was their gaurdian angel coz he led them through the difficult areas and parted ways when they could manage on their own.

Now these 7 people telling each other where to step and where not to step reach half-way. They have tea, and start their remaining Yatra. They thought that now the worst is over since now there was no snow it was only rain. They walk some distance and then they experience a rain-storm. They again take shelter in a coffee-shop which was closed. There were already some people sitting there. They wait there for an hour or something. But this time they were not comfortable, coz the room was windy and cold. Finally, they leave that place praying for their well-being. They walk the remaining distance, they were scared but still they walked boldly giving each other courage.

Finally, they reach Katra, reach their hotel room. They take rest but when they get up and they reflect on whatever they had experienced they realise that they were the blessed ones to have reached all fit-n-fine in that kind of weather, especially when the localites said that this was the worst weather in 20-25 years and that now the Yatra has been closed. They reach back Delhi and have started with their day-to-day life they can't forget what they experienced.

Well, this is what I experienced and I can assure you that this is not a movie script but a real life story. But I'm sure a movie can be made out of it!

3 comments:

Chunks said...

JAI MATA DI...

It can be a reality TV show.
Surviving Vaishno Devi Yatra.
Train, Rain, Walk, Snow, Mountains.
A Complete Adventure Shot!!!.

U r a tru "Karate Kid".

Good to c u safe n happy :)

Sambhavikaa said...

:-D

Thanks for the compliment!

sam said...

i wanna say something here... but you've said it all.