Ritanjali Hastir, Associate Editor, 3rd January, 2018, Shimla
“When the night has come,
And the land is dark,
And the moon is the only light we’ll see,
No I won’t be afraid,
No I won’t be afraid,
Just as long as you stand,
Stand by me.”
Lines from a famous song that ring a bell in most of us. It reminds us of the commitment and dedication of an individual towards the others and same dedication was witnessed today at the Simla Ice Skating Club, as the young skaters excitedly gathered to enjoy their evening skating session while the Rink stood in complete darkness.
After the fresh snowfall, Shimla City is experiencing frequent power cuts leaving an interrogative mark on the administration that seems to have learnt nothing and is still not fully equipped to deal with the weather conditions especially after 2017 winters.
However, the failure of the administration did not manage to crush the spirits of the skaters. In spite of pitch darkness in the rink, the little ones never gave up and as they rightly say that there is a LIGHT in this world. A healing spirit more powerful than any darkness we may encounter. We sometimes lose sight of this force when there is suffering, and too much pain. Then suddenly, the spirit will emerge through the lives of ordinary people who hear a call and answer in extraordinary ways.
Everyone has the fire, but champions know when to ignite the spark as any ordinary person would have stepped out of the rink with their passion extinguished as cold breeze engulfed in darkens, but members took it to a different level of amazement as they all glided not only under the natural star light but were fully supported with cars beam lights.
In the history of the rink, no such session was ever held as shared by the members and for them it was completely out of the world experience. Though the session was of a short duration but the level of ecstasy knew no bounds.
“It is for the first time that we have experienced such a situation. Normally with clear sky we hardly have power cut for so long but we will learn from the situation and will try to make arrangements to tackle it,” said Bhavnesh Banga, Secretary of the Club.
We are up for the skaters, club and providing in their best interest said the executive members who deserves to be appreciated for providing with their cars so that the spirits of the skaters were not broken especially after the weather playing a spoiled sport.
