Actor Manasi Parekh, who was part of the ongoing Kailash Mansarovar Yatra, was only five hours away from the immigration building at Gyirong when a flash flood struck the Nepal-Tibet border region. Reflecting on the harrowing ordeal, she says, "I am still in shock. We all are."
She adds, "I can never forget this experience. As expected, we were completely unprepared. Anything could have happened. A structure we counted on as a big, sturdy building was literally gone in moments. On that day, we were on a bus heading to a place called Naudanda, and from there, we were supposed to reach the immigration building at Gyirong."
Calling it her second lease on life, she recalls, "This is my second chance at life. We were slated to go to that building on Thursday for the immigration; we easily could have been inside. Hum wahan to jaane wale thhe, ab woh building hi nahi raha. Hum 24 ghanto se bach gaye... it could have been us. Poora ka poora gaon khatam. 80 people are missing from the Isha group alone. We only found out through someone there because there was no WhatsApp or Instagram, so we were completely cut off from the outside world. It was such a shocker. Life is precious and shamelessly unpredictable you can never know what's coming."
From the intense spiritual experience to the tragedy that followed, the actor emphasises how fragile life is: "From the incredible Kailash experience to the whole tragedy that unfolded, you just can't take things for granted. We need to value the present because it can disappear in a minute."
{{/usCountry}}From the intense spiritual experience to the tragedy that followed, the actor emphasises how fragile life is: "From the incredible Kailash experience to the whole tragedy that unfolded, you just can't take things for granted. We need to value the present because it can disappear in a minute."
{{/usCountry}}The actor, who had fallen ill before reaching Kailash, shares, "I was down with severe congestion there are certain health guidelines to follow, but something must have gotten missed. Then I had a bit of breathing difficulty, but it was all managed well by a good medical team."