Whenever I reminisce the days of my visit to Shimla and Kulu Manali, my hair raises on its ends due to the feeling of extreme fear as well as relief consecutively. During the last summer my parents decided to go on a group trip of 3 weeks to Kulu Manali and shimla and enjoy the scenic beauty of nature amidst utmost serenity.

We had a group of 35. Everyday we used to wake up to the sweet sunrays casting that magnificent diamond like glow on the sparkling snow-capped peaks and we were assured that if heaven exists, it has to be here and that we were the privileged ones to experience it. On such a similar day as pre-planned and a part of the whole trip, we set on our journey to Rohtang pass, which is a high mountain pass. We all fitted in a bus and held on to our seats to have a panoramic view of the distant Himalayan peaks.

The journey up was rugged, dangerous yet fun and after playing in the snow for 3 hours we decided to return back. The return was tougher as with each blind turn we had high probabilities of tripping off. Who ever knew that our worst fear was about to turn true. At one such blind turn a bus was approaching us and I still can’t recall what happened exactly but when I opened my eyes the one thing I remember is that the rear wheel of our bus was not on the road and that we were about to die. Every single member was terrified and the look I saw in my parents’ eyes told it all. I just had a flashback of my life just like it happens in films. Suddenly everything that I had been complaining all along in life about seemed so pointless. 

I couldn’t feel any anger, pain, grudge at all, I just wanted to live and all I did was to pray. A million thanks to the driver we still manage to live, may be God had sent him to give us another chance to live and realise how stupid we had been so long. That day I realized we, human beings throw tantrums, complain and brag about such small stuff, we grow impatient and always crave for more. But the human body is so fragile. Drop it off a cliff and no one even hears your cries. It is life that matters, not our share of sorrows. We were lucky that day and cheated death but might not be so again. So till then why not live it up to the fullest instead of finding flaws in god’s own creation. 

That single day matured me by a decade and this incident even today gives me goose bumps. I am a changed man who nourishes each day as if it is his last and strives to make it his best.