When I was in 6th grade, we made plans to drive to an enchanting tourist spot – Goa, India’s own Garden of Eden.

It was a long, winding road through a range of mountains called the Western Ghats which we were driving on. It would take about nine hours to reach our resort; which seemed like a million miles away.

The monsoons in India are known for their unpredictability and ferocious vigor. So, we hoped to make it in time before the next downpour began. For the past few weeks, we had been hearing of landslides and floods along the way. However, we had hired a skilled driver and felt confident that we’d make it safely.

As we progressed on our journey, our confidence in our driver and in the placid weather increased. The perpetual mist and the fresh, cool breeze coursing through the giant, leafy trees made the intimidating long drive seem to fly by. Indeed, such fresh air was not to be found in the crowded metros, so we were making the most of it. Little did we know the terrors that lay on the road ahead.

Suddenly, our driver slammed the brakes and we came to a screeching halt on the narrow mountain road. Rocks and boulders bigger than me were breaking loose from the mountain and falling into the abyss on the other side of the road. In the distance, we could hear a thunderstorm looming closer. Just GREAT, we thought, another ‘challenge’ to overcome. As we looked helplessly at our driver, we could tell that he was unperturbed.

Within a few minutes, he had charted out another route out of our present predicament. We watched in fear and amazement as he skillfully maneuvered our car through a heart-poundingly narrow pass and into a quaint village, with houses set like jewels on the mountainside.

By now, the storm had begun in earnest. However, the gracious and cordial villages opened their humble dwellings to us. They even brought some fruits and coconut water for us to refresh ourselves.

I learnt about their daily lives, and how they faced their struggles with optimism. Their deep respect for nature and its powers over humanity made me realize how much peoples across the globe have lost by waging a war on nature. By slashing down forests, we are ripping out our own souls.

Even though our sojourn there lasted only for an hour, this village and its welcoming denizens are etched in my memory, deeper than the rest of our journey.