The Price of Beauty

                 You must have seen this video going around the internet few months ago. The History Channel listed Lukla Airport as the world’s most extreme airport because of its location, high altitude, short angled runway, unforgiving surrounding and high vulnerability.

            Recently I came across another one documentary from “current TV” where Nepal’s Karnali Highway is featured in a tv series called “Deadliest Journeys”. In this gut-wrenching episode, the reporter hitchhikes a jeep which is carrying food supplies like rice and sugar from Surkhet to Jumla. I had serious creeps after watching the video and I remember my dad travelling there for work purposes. I was scared for him, even though it was long way back.

             

             (Here I have described the video shortly especially for people with slower internet speeds.)The driver prefers to drive at night because he thinks its less scarier when he can’t see the fall. Reportedly, a truck falls from the side of the road every week. And death is always around the corner. The ones who luckily made it realize they may not be that lucky when the nearest hospital is hours or day away. It is sad to see that the only hospital in miles is equivalent of a small medical centre. Even sadder is the fact that the only doctor in the region is a Dutch volunteer from Médecins Sans Frontières

 (French INGO which translates to “Doctors without Borders” and it has been working actively in Nepal for a long time now. Cheers to them!!).

            So many problems are obvious from the video! The natural terrain of Nepal makes it a beautiful place but beauty comes with a price and the people have been paying for years. The geographical barrier is always a hindrance to development and people have been living at the edge of their lives. And unfortunately, the same people who get pushed around by the nature are the ones that are the worst affected by the egoistic politicians in the cities. I only wish we can get past the political turmoil so the people in real need of help can get some attention they deserve. They ask for very little. Only if our leaders could do with a little less……….