Here i m stuck in middle of Himalayan mountain range. In Bhutan. Waiting since past 11 hours now, waiting for the blockage to open. I can see the giant claws of crane working to dig out rubble n break huge rocks. I see pieces of huge rock smitthering away in front of human effort n one by one colliding down into the river wangdue flowing 200 meters below making smooth twists n turns with double the intensity of mochu n pochu. I m told more two hours to go. I dnt know how the time passes. Am half asleep..half awake. Peole are walking past by my bus window where i am resting my head.

And i hear the sound of bus n the lights get turned on. They all r takiing in language which i cant identify. bhutenese? Or nepali..?? but can understand n make sense of wht they r talking n hence m assuming it was nepali. The cranes had gone n wud resume to make way thru tht land slide next morning. At tht time it was 11.40 in the night. Discussion amongst enthu few go on for like 5mins n driver switchoff light n go to sleep. Somewhere they had in their mind – ME. A lady traveler alone from India. I felt so!! If not in their talks..atleast it was in their thought when they discussed the possible options. Anyway, all fell asleep n so did i. For a while i panicked…..dnt knw of wht??? The idea tht the whole night we got to spend in tht bus nestled with strangers walking past by..  !!! Still I thought this is the situation whr i got to gather my gutt and prove to myself tht m strong. I went on with the flow. Hardly few minutes later the Clock struck 12 n i saw its raining n dense clouds gathering by… I somehow stil felt asleep but again felt tht strange restlesness..! It happened again. The moment of sheer panic where my nerves get on me. Dnt know since when it had started…may b aftr my MRI session. N I saw that Most of all vehicles r gone or atleast not seen n I was thr ..in a bus…with all males except one lady… Surrounded by not only mountains….now, the dense fog cloud cover was going to engulf the mountain soon. I know how muchbreathless i can get. I had experienced it when coming from phuntsholing to Thimphu. N moreover the idea; tht all this Ws happening in night middle of nowhere- was little scary. I just right away calleddriver. “bhaiya….” My voice was normal pitch but i guess everyone till the last row wud hv heard mewaking up the bus driver. Aftr 2-3 reptition he was up n i asked him if we cud go back to place whr we had lunch.- a small road side restaurant 6 kms bk whr the climb started. He said he had called the restaurant n found out that it Ws closed. ” waha kuch milega nahi “. He said. I narated him my situation tht i was having  difficulty in breathing n he readily accepted to help me. He got up from deep sleep n started the bus. The murmors about situation n hunger n rains had started by then amongst people who had woken up with my sound.

 n so the bus slid n glided thru the rainy slushy almost broken path by the bank of river.. Scanning thru inrains 6 kms back to tht small restaurant. i had started imagning how wud i thank this man…!!in that situation, i was feeling lot more obliged more than grateful. Not knowing tht my request was nothing but going to prove as a trigger in serving the greater good. 

The driver went to window of reception of the restaurant n tried all possible ways to wake up the staff n also succeeded.  I had parked my ass  at the stairs of tht verrandah whr lot of other refugges were already sleeping on whtever piece of rug they cud get or create from available source. He asked me if wanted to hv dinner?? i was too obliged  already n told him that if all r having then mayb I wud ordersomething,but otherwise was not hungry. He promptly asked me to sit inside n i instantly followed tht. Went in,n sat on chair n saw tht driver and one other guy who was sitting in front of the bus went in thekitchen n they ordered tea. I ordered one for myself n went to get fresh in washroom. When i came out the situation had transformed completely. The doors tht opened up restaurant were like a call to manybuses n cars parked outside. Gradually the hall flooded with people pouring in with hope of finding food n the restaurant lady got on to it n soon i saw dishes of rice started coming on table. To my surprise it was tht guy frm bus serving the tables. I sat thr having my biscuits n chai…ahhh what a chai!!!!! Very light with milk n very strong with herbs. I never had such a wonderful refrshing chai ever before. I sipped on itn kept observing all around me; Involuntarily. Had nothing to do n also I was so inexistent for peoplearound me there that i cud easily have observed them without even getting noticed myself. Thts exactly when,i felt the urge to write. Lines started coming to my mind n i started feeling relaxed. 

Two ladies talked sitting in front of me while having their dinner. They probably were discussing other Option- taking other route. Both of them seemed from rural background. Wearing kiras and hair short trimmed. One seemed to be so much like the nani of the third queen.well, I was reading this book written by the queen of bhutan during this journey. And so everything about Bhutan was heavy n alive on my head.  Next sat a girl in her early twenties eating rice n having sips of daal in between and with big morsels of Ema Datchi – (cheese chilly curry). she surprised me because even the look at tht dish fills me up with heat and there she was enjoying this staple diet of their country!! Then she drank water andcontinued gulping down big morsels without chewing much….!! With her, were two kids n she offeredwater to one of them n he drank it quietly hoding the glass of water with his little hand n he put it back on the table. The next kid held the glass with his little hands….. And drank on!!! Enjoying the Dinner!!! I was thr seeing everyone. I saw the bus guy running around n people calling him ‘ achu achu..’ n he willingly helping them all. Well there was the difference. i had offered help to the restaurant lady and thatguy had already started helping her without saying it and was serving the tables.

I paid for my tea n came out to gauge at the situation. Grabbed a support for my back n sat on staircase n started keying in notepad on my cellphone. I was wondering bout these people… Thuer faces whichlooked so tired….. N hungry!!! N now, they all had food. I wondered wht if i hadn’t asked driver to take me back to this restaurant when i had difficulty in breathing?!? I realized tht may b all wr hungry but toonaive to ask for help from the restaurant. But when they saw doors open…they all came in. I thought bout lady who didn’t wake up  first whn driver called or may not have been so willing to cook or serve againonce she had closes for the day. But now, herr she was…Making business out of all these people who poured in. 

I pondered on the events that happened. There are people ready to pay if they r served. They are in needof the situation. On the other hand there r people who have resources n can make money. Its all bout management..n i think thrs wht Gujarat represents. We create opportunities n its win win for all. I thought of narendra modi..n whole gujarat n indian community. Upfront. Loud.  Expressive. N i liked this thought. This thought helped me put everything in right jigsaw n justify in grander level my request to driver to get me bk to restaurant. My breathing problem helped so many people quench their hunger n get a refuge to sleep. I m happy.