The 20th day of my challenge felt like every other day in the journey.
That evening around 6 PM, I uploaded my 20th video. Just like the previous days, the response was slow. I was frustrated. After putting in consistent effort for so many days, somewhere inside me I was expecting things to move faster.
But life had something completely different planned for that night.
When I started this challenge, the monsoon had just begun in our valley. On that day, it had rained lightly in the morning. By around 1 PM the rain stopped, and everything seemed normal again.
Earlier in the day, I had even charged my phone in my car while posting the reel. In the evening around 7 PM, I brought the phone back home after charging it.
Everything felt ordinary.
There was no electricity that night and my phone battery was also running low. So around 10 PM, I decided to sleep early.
But at around 11:30 PM, my phone rang.
Someone from the village was on the call, telling me that a massive amount of water had suddenly entered the khadd (mountain stream) near our village. According to him, the main bridge of our village was gone. Several houses near the river, a temple, and even parked vehicles had been swept away.
For a moment, I thought it was a joke.
But then two or three more calls came with the same message.
Our house is slightly soundproof, so we usually don’t hear much noise from outside. But around midnight, someone knocked on our door.
When I opened it, my neighbor’s entire family was standing outside.
And that was the moment when I finally heard what was happening outside.
The sound was terrifying.
The wind was howling violently. There were loud crashing sounds in the distance, almost like explosions. And there was a strange, muddy smell in the air coming from outside.
My neighbors told us that the situation below our house had become very dangerous, and they no longer felt safe staying in their home. That’s why they had come to our house.
After they arrived, my phone didn’t stop ringing.
From midnight onwards, I must have received around a hundred calls. Everyone was asking the same question — “Is everything okay there?”
From those calls, I finally learned the full picture.
Multiple cloudbursts had happened in the upper parts of our valley. Communication had collapsed in many areas. People couldn’t reach their families, and some villagers were already reported missing.
The calls kept coming until 5 AM.
The bridge that had been swept away also had five vehicles parked on it — including cars from our village.
But the worst part was that we couldn’t see anything clearly.
All the solar lights near the riverside had shut down because of the water. It was pitch dark outside. No one could confirm whether the bridge was still there or not… and whether the vehicles had survived.
Lightning kept flashing in the sky.
From my balcony, the bridge is usually clearly visible. It even had reflectors installed on it that shine whenever light hits them.
So I decided to wait.
If lightning struck again, maybe I could see something.
For almost ten minutes, I stood there staring into the darkness.
Then suddenly, lightning flashed across the valley.
For a split second, the entire area lit up.
And in that moment…
I saw nothing.
No bridge.
Only water.
That’s when the reality hit me.
The bridge was gone. The vehicles were gone. And deep inside, a terrible thought appeared — maybe some people had been swept away too.
Sleep was impossible after that.
All we could do was sit together, waiting for the morning to arrive.
And praying…
That everyone in the village was safe.
In the morning i cant forget what i saw which you will find out in our next blog....