Thank you dear subscribers, we are overwhelmed with your response.
Your Turn is a unique section from ThePrint featuring points of view from its subscribers. If you are a subscriber, have a point of view, please send it to us. If not, do subscribe here: https://theprint.in/
Recently both of us (my wife and myself) visited famous hill stations Manali and Shimla on a holiday. It was a 6 Nights and 7 Days package from Bangalore. The tour was exhilarating and lively. We could escape the heat of Bangalore this summer and enjoy the pleasant climate of these hill stations. We could witness and enjoy the snowcapped mountains and a lovely stroll in the snow. It was an unforgettable experience for both of us.
The journey by road from Chandigarh to Manali was a long and an arduous one. It took nearly 11 hours to cover the distance of just over 300 Kms. The roads were not motorable and were in a dreadful condition. There was a lot of construction, levelling and tunnel-boring work going on, which made travelling by car, a nightmare.
The journey to SISSU (Lahaul) village on the outskirts of Manali and travelling through the newly constructed world’s longest single tube Atal tunnel 10000 ft. above sea level, was an out of the world experience. The tunnel is over 9 kms. long, fully illuminated with telephone facility at every 150 metre of its stretch, a fire hydrant every 60 metre, emergency exits every 500 metres, turning cavern every 2.2 km, air quality monitors every 1 km, broadcasting system and automatic incident detection system with CCTV cameras every 250 metre.
We felt proud to travel by this incredible tunnel connecting Manali to Lahaul-Spiti valley.
As we crossed this tunnel, the snowcapped mountains, frozen Beas river, vast expanse of snow-covered plains appeared before us in a breathtakingly mesmerizing sight. It was a spectacular panorama.
The trip taught us a couple of practical lessons of life.
Life lesson No.1
While we were returning from SISSU village after enjoying the sight of snowcapped mountains and a walk on the ice, we found a driver at a slope desperately trying to stop cars for help. We stopped our car and enquired what was wrong. He informed me that his car engine had failed, and it was unable to climb up. He needed to be towed to the nearest town (Manali) to get the vehicle repaired.
My driver noticed that the car belonged to a different state and understood that the driver knew no one locally to call for help. He offered to help him and towed the vehicle with the help of a long rope.
He pulled it over a steep height and let go after that. To our surprise, we found further 20Kms. , it was downhill and the car rode like a normal car with the driver only controlling the steering. My driver patiently followed the car to avoid any breakdown in between. It was a great gesture on the part of my driver to have backed his fellow driver who after a small nudge drove the vehicle to his desired destination.
We come across many such promising individuals in society who are stuck at a slope unable to climb up in life. A small hand holding, a little push or a nudge would provide immense support and take them to the road to non-stop success.
Life lesson No.2
Many people travel not only for sight-seeing but also for self-discovery. I compare the journey from Chandigarh to Manali, Atal tunnel and SISSU village to three stages of life.
The initial roads from Chandigarh till the beginning of the ghat section was a National Highway and it was a pleasure driving through this smooth road. This symbolizes youth. You zip past this road in a jiffy, and in a wink, you cross the youthful stage of your life.
In the 2nd stage the roads are full of potholes, protruding stones, curves, bends, slopes, rugged terrain and are dangerously narrow which makes travel very challenging. This symbolizes old age. Your journey becomes very grueling and exacting. It takes a toll on your health, peace, finances, and life in general.
Eventually, after all this back-breaking journey you reach the entrance of a tunnel which is a twilight zone. Then you pass through the tunnel. This represents death. The ride through the tunnel is silent and twilight with no stopping anywhere.
At the end of the tunnel, bright light, and an open sky beckon you which symbolizes salvation, the ultimate release of soul from the body.
These pieces are being published as they have been received – they have not been edited/fact-checked by ThePrint.
COMMENTS