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| People moved like automatons in this beautiful city. It is famous as Paradise on Earth. Surrounded by snow-covered mountains, with lively, cool streams flowing from above, vistas of beauty with nature relaxing in a graceful manner almost everywhere my eyes turned, are some of the spots I was impressed with. This happy scene should have a positive effect on the citizens. Yet, I see them somewhat glum or even sullen. There is a kind of defiant attitude to their conversation. Wearing long robes in black, I wonder if I can call them "minions of Lucifer". Often, I wondered how could people live without exchanging smiles or a "hello". I hope, soon they will realize the value of communication and exchange of ideas and resources. Eventually, I discovered that the locals resent tourists to their parts. They don't want outsiders to be present in their closed communities. No wonder, education and infrastructure are in poor state. People are poor. I spotted alms-mongering quite often. Living conditions are in a bad state. So, I gathered, their leaders are not able to do much to improve the lot of ordinary, day-to-day crowd except brain washing them to keep to themselves. On empty stomachs? This place has a tremendous scope to develop by generating money through tourism alone. There are very few properties and businesses that opened hotels and eating places for the tourists. I came across a teen named Altaf. He is a stable boy. The union he belongs to, supplies horses to the tourists to visit mountainous terrain, where the cars cannot go. The path is not fit for vehicles. So the ancient means of transport has no alternative to enjoy the rarest of the spectacles of nature on the tops layers of the mountains. Altaf is being worked to bone as he helped the horse climb a tough hilly path with many stones and a one-foot narrow path full of muck and mud. Thanks to my daily exercise rĂ©gime, I could withstand the travails to scale the mountain pretty well. Every step is a trial to the horse, the rider and the boy. On my return to the hotel, I tried to tip Altaf. A number of guys surrounded him and did not let him take it. They took it. I was on the edge of tears. Wither justice? I pondered. I came away with the hope that in future, this sullen and silent world will open up to all without discrimination of religion or race and taste the benefits of sharing and communication. Dropnote ▼ |
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