Uttarakhand Flood Relief

After waiting for the roads to open to Sonprayag for one day, it was decided that we would just try to move ahead somehow, inspite of the inclement weather and inaccessibility. When we made known our plans, almost everyone around recommended against it. We prayed to Amma and decided to at least try our best to move ahead. And as always, Amma’s Grace flowed – as soon as we were ready, the skies opened up magically! The sun started shining brightly – and the locals could not believe it.

We set out from Guptakashi to reach as far as we could by road – which was just six kms.Then the road just disappeared. Taking our luggage, medicines and supplies – we went ahead on foot, sometimes having to use ropes to move across chasms. The area was very unstable, with mud continuing to come down occasionally.

After walking for a few kilometers, we came across a little patient by the roadside – Vedansh – who could not reach any medical care as the roads were cut off. We did what we could, and as we looked back at him, we knew his blessings would carry us through.

We reached a dangerous stretch where huge boulders were still falling occasionally, and it was here that we had planned to rest for the evening. But seeing the great weather – which was rare – we decided to make the best use of it – and continued forward.

Reaching Sonprayag, we were shocked by the scale of the devastation that we saw there. A huge expanse of area that had been that had been flattened by the raging Mandakini, was once a teeming town – just rubble now remained. On that fateful day – 8,000 pilgrims were lodged in various hotels here. A few mules were in a stretch of land – stranded for the last one month. It would be another week the army could build a temporary bridge for them.

– Mukesh