Uttarakhand Relief Work

29 Jun 2013, Uttarakhand

People from many parts of India and the World had been asking….. When are you going to Uttarakhand? Devotees knew that is there was a need Amma would respond. And Amma did respond and at the perfect time. It is only now that the roads have opened up for people to get to some point close to the affected areas.

On our way to relief operation

In Uttarkashi, roads had been washed away so many parts, villages were inaccessible, though there was not much loss of life or property as  compared to Kedarnath. In and around Kedarnath villages had been wiped out, many lives lost and people rendered homeless and bereft. So it was to this place that we were told to go to.

As soon as instructions were received from Amma, it was like someone had disturbed a hornets nest – everyone was running around trying to put together some workable plan, based on our very meager knowledge of ground conditions at that time. But in a single day, with Amma’s Grace doctors from AIMS had already reached Delhi, well-equipped ambulances and the telemedicine bus had already set out from Kochi,
and we had managed to get in touch with the local administration, who welcomed us with open arms.

We are in Srinagar
We left Delhi today morning. An advance team to see and evaluate situations first hand, before the rest of the team and equipment arrived. We are now in Srinagar, just about 30km from Rudraprayag, which could be our base camp for the coming days. It is only tomorrow or in the coming days that we will get some idea of the devastation. But one thing is clear – it would have been beyond our imagination. In a day it had rained 47cms!!

As we were travelling we stopped at one place where we could take pictures. We went down close to the churning, roaring waters. For a second I did not connect what I had seen as I was climbing down to the river. River sand well above the present level of this swirling mass – 25 to 30feet above the present level(which is higher than normal)! Imagine the volume of water that would have washed down the mountains, taking everything in its path mercilessly.

Mother Nature’s imbalance
But maybe it is not merciless. Mother Nature had been whispering to us over time that we should change our ways as we were out of balance and so were creating an imbalance in Nature. We did not hear. Then Mother talked in a louder voice, we still did not hear. Now She is shouting out Her message to Her – the floods and devastation in India, Floods in Europe, so many parts of the world facing strange
unforeseen weather. But Mother is doing this out of compassion so that we do not pave the way for our own destruction. Maybe we will start heeding it this time. But there is a point – we assume that the balance of Nature is lost because of external factors, but it is more because we have lost our internal balance that Nature is responding so. If we work to restore that then Nature will regain balance.

An opportunity to serve
As for our team – each person looks on this as a golden opportunity to serve, and lend a helping hand to those who have lost all. In the coming days, if possible, after setting up basic facilities here, we plan to try to trek to some village(for roads are not there beyond a point) to see first hand what the people, our people, have gone through.

– Mukesh