ICE TOWERS

Vindhya wanted to go urgently. But do things happen as you want? She was stuck up on road, due to traffic jam. Varun, her younger brother was also with her. He asked her to see the app and gauge the long trail of traffic and also find out if any alternate route was available. Since she was at the driving seat and tucked with seat-belt, she gave the mobile phone to him. He looked for details and immediately said,

“Traffic Jam, chi-chi.” She involuntarily responded,

“Chi-chi, chi-chi, chi-chi, chi-chi.”

It was their childhood game. Anything they had to condemn, they simply had to say, ‘Chi-chi’. More often in their petty quarrels then in those days, they condemned each other. Varun would say, “Vindhya Chi-chi and Vindhya would retaliate by saying, ‘Varun chi-chi, chi-chi’ umpteen times. Obviously, the angry boy, would chase her and shout in her ears, the same chi-chi, repeatedly and also a good number of times. For a pretty long time, they never knew, why their mother said, ‘Thank you, Mamtaji.’ Only when they grew up, they learnt that a political leader had made this tactic, as a popular slogan in her rally and kept the crowd in good cheers by her famous chi-chi slogans.

Both Vindhya and Varun had come out of their childhood, but this one habit of adding chi-chi for condemnation of anything, continued. Varun said,

“No good news, ‘Vindie’. The traffic will only get more terrific as the chill weather may turn blizzard. We are sitting inside the vehicle. So, we do not know about the choppy winds….” Even before he would complete, all of a sudden, a snowstorm with high winds started lashing. Nothing could be seen, nor even the car, right in front of them. A thick blanket of heavy snow had already embarked, no, no, engulfed and entrapped the entire area, rendering all vehicles to come to a standstill.

Along with Varun was his colleague, Vedprakash, who had recently come from India, for short period and on a small assignment. Even though snowfall, cloudburst, flash floods were not new to him in India, a blizzard of this magnitude was something, he had never known, nor seen. He was about to lift the window, both Varun and Vindhya screamed, “Oh! Don’t.”

Varun just wanted to divert everyone’s attention and said,

“Let us talk about something different. After all, that’s all that, we can do now, --- just talk to each other.”

Vedprakash said,

“Recently, I saw a cinema. A mild version of this blizzard like thing, was shown in the picture, ‘Kedarnath’. Along with, flash floods, landslide was also shown. The hero had to wade through all these rough hurdles and save people, not caring to know, who belonged to which caste or creed. But, just see outside! Look at the thick white blanket of snow here! I am afraid, we may be buried under the heap.”

Vindhya responded,

“Don’t worry. The high speed of winds is in fact, doing us the favour. The snow is also blown with it. Just see the app. How long is it going to last”?  

Vedprakash muttered something. Varun heard, smiled and answered him. The entire snow that was falling now, would certainly be drained, once the winds blew off. But the next biggest problem would be, to drive cautiously, as roads would be skiddy due to icy waters. The traffic jam, slow speed, possibility of ‘prone to accidents’ all these factors would keep the drivers at razor’s edge. While, Varun was highlighting and stressing upon the perils of driving on snow covered roads, Vedprakash was wondering at the volume of water in the form of snow storm had descended, in one stroke. If only, there was a device to store and save such a downpour, what a great benefit it would be to the mankind.       

Vindhya replied him.

“Who said it is not being used! It is certainly harvested and made use of. Only in India, this harvesting is yet to catch up. We sitting here away from our country, painfully and silently watch and witness how both drought and floods affect the people simultaneously. We have been seeing, that every year, on the mountain slopes, avalanches, rapid melting of glaciers, flash floods are commonly occurring. In the plains, year to year, droughts and dry spell continue.  Farmers’ suicides are a matter of daily-news! Funnier part is that we have a good number of renowned watermen in India, who silently render their selfless services to their villages. Have you heard of Ayyappa Masagi of Bangalore? An Ashoka awardee!”

Vedprakash said, “I have a peculiar problem in my native village. This is near Manali, but not on main streams of River Beas. Famous Rohtang Pass is also close by. During rainy seasons, there is heavy down pour. But due to rocky soil, nothing could be retained there. We have lot of apple and other fruit trees on the valley. Unfortunately, due to climate change and lack of sufficient water and chillness, apples do not grow, nor ripe in time. Snowfall is a must for ripening, which does not happen in time. Do you know anyone who can solve our villagers’ persistent problem?”      

Vindhya laughed. “Hello, my dear Ved! Have you ever seen the film ‘3 Idiots’ and wondered who this ‘Ranchoddas Chanchad’ was? The film was based on that intelligent innovator… Phunsukh Wangdu. But, actually the real hero of the land was Sonam Wangchuk, who was the inspiration for the filmy character Wangdu. Our real hero, Sonam, had created artificial glaciers and named them Ice Stupas or simply put, Ice Towers. These stupas had not only held the water in icy forms, but also were slow in melting. He had taken it upon himself to create as many stupas as possible. The more you read about him, the more you will be surprised! A country like Switzerland, the most famous tourist destination country in the world, had invited him to create Ice Towers in their nation, so that their melting glaciers could be replenished and their tourism trade remains intact. What more do you want?

Not only this man, there is one more good Samaritan, you should know. Chewang Norphel, better known as Iceman of Ladakh. People worship him like God, and why not…! Do you know? Ladakh is a cold desert as per our geography books. But this man had made it, a thing of the past. He had created lots of artificial icy glaciers, which in the later part of the year, say in summer and spring, helped the locals to remain in their own villages and start cultivating crops and vegetables, which hitherto, were not even thinkable, in their wildest dreams.

Hello Ved, I am not exaggerating. You can scan through social media you-tube videos, face book stories, or just look for their biodata in Wikipedia.”

After the long speech, she paused a while, so that he could eschew the inputs, she was drilling into his head. On the contrary, Vedprakash, was looking sheepish. He wanted to know how his village folks would benefit out of the makers of artificial glaciers. It all sounded to him as though it was one more advertisement for ‘Make in India’. He asked her to explain.

Again, Vindhya had to pick up threads and continue.

“When you go back, meet some of those who had been trained by these glacier-makers. Understand the very technology behind it. Explain this to your people. Ask them to adopt. Let them know that the Ice Towers help, both in retaining waters and maintaining chillness. Okay!”

“Thank you, Vindhya. On listening to you, I understand that my visit to this country has become more meaningful and purposeful, much more than my official assignment. I must try out this.”

Suddenly, Vindhya noticed that there was brightness all around. Oh! The blizzard had cleared!

Vedprakash also felt that there was brightness around him and he was fully aware that it was due to his newly acquired information on Ice Towers and artificial glaciers.

Varun who was silent all along, suddenly asked Vindhya,

“Why are the apples so sour?” She knew he had dozed off, a habit with which, he was always accustomed to. She had to bring him to senses. So, she said,

“From where you got apples? Take those apples and go out and stand on the icy towers gathered around our car and see if they turn sweet.”

Obviously, on being teased, he had only one thing to say, “Vindy, Chi-chi, chi-chi, chi-chi.” Both Vindhya and Vedprakash laughed aloud.

The receding snow outside, was slowly getting replaced by ripples of laughter.  Vindhya wanted to go urgently. But do things happen as you want? She was stuck up on road, due to traffic jam. Varun, her younger brother was also with her. He asked her to see the app and gauge the long trail of traffic and also find out if any alternate route was available. Since she was at the driving seat and tucked with seat-belt, she gave the mobile phone to him. He looked for details and immediately said,“Traffic Jam, chi-chi.” She involuntarily responded,

“Chi-chi, chi-chi, chi-chi, chi-chi.”

It was their childhood game. Anything they had to condemn, they simply had to say, ‘Chi-chi’. More often in their petty quarrels then in those days, they condemned each other. Varun would say, “Vindhya Chi-chi and Vindhya would retaliate by saying, ‘Varun chi-chi, chi-chi’ umpteen times. Obviously, the angry boy, would chase her and shout in her ears, the same chi-chi, repeatedly and also a good number of times. For a pretty long time, they never knew, why their mother said, ‘Thank you, Mamtaji.’ Only when they grew up, they learnt that a political leader had made this tactic, as a popular slogan in her rally and kept the crowd in good cheers by her famous chi-chi slogans.

Both Vindhya and Varun had come out of their childhood, but this one habit of adding chi-chi for condemnation of anything, continued. Varun said,

“No good news, ‘Vindie’. The traffic will only get more terrific as the chill weather may turn blizzard. We are sitting inside the vehicle. So, we do not know about the choppy winds….” Even before he would complete, all of a sudden, a snowstorm with high winds started lashing. Nothing could be seen, nor even the car, right in front of them. A thick blanket of heavy snow had already embarked, no, no, engulfed and entrapped the entire area, rendering all vehicles to come to a standstill.

Along with Varun was his colleague, Vedprakash, who had recently come from India, for short period and on a small assignment. Even though snowfall, cloudburst, flash floods were not new to him in India, a blizzard of this magnitude was something, he had never known, nor seen. He was about to lift the window, both Varun and Vindhya screamed, “Oh! Don’t.”

Varun just wanted to divert everyone’s attention and said,

“Let us talk about something different. After all, that’s all that, we can do now, --- just talk to each other.”

Vedprakash said,

“Recently, I saw a cinema. A mild version of this blizzard like thing, was shown in the picture, ‘Kedarnath’. Along with, flash floods, landslide was also shown. The hero had to wade through all these rough hurdles and save people, not caring to know, who belonged to which caste or creed. But, just see outside! Look at the thick white blanket of snow here! I am afraid, we may be buried under the heap.”

Vindhya responded,

“Don’t worry. The high speed of winds is in fact, doing us the favour. The snow is also blown with it. Just see the app. How long is it going to last”?  

Vedprakash muttered something. Varun heard, smiled and answered him. The entire snow that was falling now, would certainly be drained, once the winds blew off. But the next biggest problem would be, to drive cautiously, as roads would be skiddy due to icy waters. The traffic jam, slow speed, possibility of ‘prone to accidents’ all these factors would keep the drivers at razor’s edge. While, Varun was highlighting and stressing upon the perils of driving on snow covered roads, Vedprakash was wondering at the volume of water in the form of snow storm had descended, in one stroke. If only, there was a device to store and save such a downpour, what a great benefit it would be to the mankind.       

Vindhya replied him.

“Who said it is not being used! It is certainly harvested and made use of. Only in India, this harvesting is yet to catch up. We sitting here away from our country, painfully and silently watch and witness how both drought and floods affect the people simultaneously. We have been seeing, that every year, on the mountain slopes, avalanches, rapid melting of glaciers, flash floods are commonly occurring. In the plains, year to year, droughts and dry spell continue.  Farmers’ suicides are a matter of daily-news! Funnier part is that we have a good number of renowned watermen in India, who silently render their selfless services to their villages. Have you heard of Ayyappa Masagi of Bangalore? An Ashoka awardee!”

Vedprakash said, “I have a peculiar problem in my native village. This is near Manali, but not on main streams of River Beas. Famous Rohtang Pass is also close by. During rainy seasons, there is heavy down pour. But due to rocky soil, nothing could be retained there. We have lot of apple and other fruit trees on the valley. Unfortunately, due to climate change and lack of sufficient water and chillness, apples do not grow, nor ripe in time. Snowfall is a must for ripening, which does not happen in time. Do you know anyone who can solve our villagers’ persistent problem?”      

Vindhya laughed. “Hello, my dear Ved! Have you ever seen the film ‘3 Idiots’ and wondered who this ‘Ranchoddas Chanchad’ was? The film was based on that intelligent innovator… Phunsukh Wangdu. But, actually the real hero of the land was Sonam Wangchuk, who was the inspiration for the filmy character Wangdu. Our real hero, Sonam, had created artificial glaciers and named them Ice Stupas or simply put, Ice Towers. These stupas had not only held the water in icy forms, but also were slow in melting. He had taken it upon himself to create as many stupas as possible. The more you read about him, the more you will be surprised! A country like Switzerland, the most famous tourist destination country in the world, had invited him to create Ice Towers in their nation, so that their melting glaciers could be replenished and their tourism trade remains intact. What more do you want?

Not only this man, there is one more good Samaritan, you should know. Chewang Norphel, better known as Iceman of Ladakh. People worship him like God, and why not…! Do you know? Ladakh is a cold desert as per our geography books. But this man had made it, a thing of the past. He had created lots of artificial icy glaciers, which in the later part of the year, say in summer and spring, helped the locals to remain in their own villages and start cultivating crops and vegetables, which hitherto, were not even thinkable, in their wildest dreams.

Hello Ved, I am not exaggerating. You can scan through social media you-tube videos, face book stories, or just look for their biodata in Wikipedia.”

After the long speech, she paused a while, so that he could eschew the inputs, she was drilling into his head. On the contrary, Vedprakash, was looking sheepish. He wanted to know how his village folks would benefit out of the makers of artificial glaciers. It all sounded to him as though it was one more advertisement for ‘Make in India’. He asked her to explain.

Again, Vindhya had to pick up threads and continue.

“When you go back, meet some of those who had been trained by these glacier-makers. Understand the very technology behind it. Explain this to your people. Ask them to adopt. Let them know that the Ice Towers help, both in retaining waters and maintaining chillness. Okay!”

“Thank you, Vindhya. On listening to you, I understand that my visit to this country has become more meaningful and purposeful, much more than my official assignment. I must try out this.”

Suddenly, Vindhya noticed that there was brightness all around. Oh! The blizzard had cleared!

Vedprakash also felt that there was brightness around him and he was fully aware that it was due to his newly acquired information on Ice Towers and artificial glaciers.

Varun who was silent all along, suddenly asked Vindhya,

“Why are the apples so sour?” She knew he had dozed off, a habit with which, he was always accustomed to. She had to bring him to senses. So, she said,

“From where you got apples? Take those apples and go out and stand on the icy towers gathered around our car and see if they turn sweet.”

Obviously, on being teased, he had only one thing to say, “Vindy, Chi-chi, chi-chi, chi-chi.” Both Vindhya and Vedprakash laughed aloud.

The receding snow outside, was slowly getting replaced by ripples of laughter.