In a while, each one of us should present ourselves with the
opportunity to get away from the daily mundane life. For me, this happened to
be a trekking trip that led me to a place named Chopta in Uttarakhand whose
beauty mesmerises everyone who visits the place. The nature and its beauty is a
much bigger source of unparallelled joy which many of us have tried to replace
with our artificial measures and personally, I think I have miserably failed.
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| Anybody else in the picture will surely depreciate the view!!! |
The beauty and the serenity of the place leave one amazed.
It is aptly described as God’s own kingdom. The scenic view of the mountains
and the valleys, the glorious sunshine atop the snow-laden peaks, the melodious
sounds of birds chirping and the heavenly mornings are a far cry from the daily
sights of city life where honking of vehicles greets us in the morning and the view
involves the sight of big malls and buildings, which is amazing in the small
run, but as many of us might have witnessed, loses the value in the long run. The
place helps everyone witness and feel the pristine beauty of nature. It provides
a way to connect to ourselves, introspect and take on a new perspective on life
and the way we want to lead it. In my
many conversation with people, many agreed on how coming back in the laps of
nature really refreshes their mind, soothes them and help them de-stress.
But then again, it makes me realise that this vacation is
just a small trip which will end and it’s just a temporary escape from the
reality. Which takes me to the next question? How have we conducted ourselves
such that we have made our surroundings such that every once in a while we are
required to break away? Why haven’t we able to retain that beauty here?
The answers to the above questions are slightly disturbing as
the entire blame is on us only. Our constant pursuit of unnecessary necessities
and comfort has led us to ignore nature and environment. And every day we are
making it worse. To change that will require a sea change in our attitudes and behaviour
and although every one of us has the ability to change, I don’t know how many
of us really want that?
But then again, why are we committing the same mistakes
again where these have not been conducted in the past? We are smart enough not
to commit the same mistakes again and again. However, the way we have conducted
ourselves at this place will leave many of us hang our head in shame. While visiting
to mountains, we carry packaged foods and many people just throw them during
the journey? Everyone knows the littering of plastics does great harm to the
beauty of the place, then why do we fail in its application? I mean, if we are able to carry a packaged
item of 500 gm when it’s full, why it becomes heavy for us when we have emptied
its contents? Why can’t we get the
feeling that it’s a part of our extended home? We have the shared responsibility
of preserving the inherent joys of that place, and these seemingly naive acts
will rob the place of its beauty and serenity. In the bigger picture, we are
just portraying ourselves as a nuisance. For me, it’s like we have been blessed
with the great opportunity to visit a friend’s place and we came back robbing
it. Every time we do such acts, we lessen the beauty of that place.
Each one of us are smart enough to realise that we are not
perfect at everything we do and it’s time we start making changes to our habits. Anybody won't be able to make that change for us and we must not wait for anybody to tell us to do things. Each one of us should identify an improvement and work towards that. It won't hurt to do that and maybe, in this way we can make the world a better place to live in for the coming generations. For starters, we may follow the "No Trace Policy" where we make sure that we don't leave any trace of ours in the mountain, I mean any goods, wrappers etc.
P.S. – It’s not a teaching to anybody. People are smart
enough to make choices, but then again, learning can come from anywhere.
Do respond with your opinions just in case you happen to read this. I
will be more than happy to learn from you and your opinions.
Although no technology can help us feel the real joy of visiting in person and no technology should , we can certainly try to replicate it through the pictures. Sharing some joys just in case people want to have a look.
