The saddest part of the tragedy in Uttarakhand is that this place is literally littered with hundreds of thousands of pilgrims which include Hindus flocking to many Hindu temples and the same could be said for the Hemkuntian Sikhs. The paths to these so called "Cleansing H(e)avens" are full of garbage thrown by these 'pious people' who would not give two hoots about keeping the environment pristine as commanded by the rules of humanity leaving the religious side aside. These places stink of feces, horse/mule manure, rotting garbage in the plastic bags. As a result the snow white paths have become blackened foul smelling slurpee to tread on.
What kind of Spiritual journey is this, the pilgrims should ask themselves?
And when the changing patterns of the weather as it is happening the world over, get to the places like these among the breath taking mountains surrounded by the beautiful glaciers, they become more dangerous and treacherous with the rains and raging river waters.
Now comes the decision who to be taken care of first by the armed forces as there is very little infrastructure for the locals themselves in these places where the population increases several folds during the pilgrimage season. Unfortunately, the locals are left holding the short end of the stick because the travelers become the first priority.
I must add that the armed forces are doing the yeoman's job during these tough and in almost impossible circumstances as this picture is the proof itself of their bravura.
Tejwant Singh
The image from this article was moved to the original post so that the Spotlight would not show a blank window. spnadmin
