Happiness is a choice.
Nothing can take
away our happiness!
BHUTAN
by DR. MARAL YAZARLOO - PATTRICK
Just before we flagged off 'Ride To Be One' we got a message from Sanjay,
an avid biker and the brother-in-law of the King of Bhutan. He invited us
to start our journey in Bhutan - the world's happiest and most peaceful
country. I didn't even take a minute to decide. I checked with Pankaj
(Partner) and accepted Sanjay's invitation immediately.
We reached Phinsoling at 1:20 pm on 28th March. Sanjay's people were
already at the India-Bhutan border crossing to process the necessary
paperwork. While we were at immigration, waiting for the procedures to
get completed, we heard a commotion followed by the noise of a
weightless body hitting the ground. Pankaj and I ran towards that
direction, which was instantly surrounded by a circle of people. We saw a
man on the ground, convulsing his eyes rolling and his jaw locked.
[Flashback to that time, when a 17 year old Maral was in office in
Tehran. It was just a normal boring working day. It was around 4 pm
when everyone suddenly heard scary noise. Our 6.3 feet tall 100 kg
boss collapsed to the ground, convulsing. Another colleague ran out
and screamed, "Remove the tongue! Remove the tongue! He will
choke!" Maral was frozen and couldn't even move a finger; forget
about of being of any help.]
18 years later, it was Maral who was screaming this time, "Remove the
tongue! Open his mouth, else he will choke!"
I sat on the ground, twisted his neck and held his head between my
hands, while Pankaj tried his best to find a way to open the man's tongue
was stuck and was bleeding.
Partner managed to open the jaw and force his finger into the man's
mouth to prevent the jaw from locking again. Those few minutes felt like
the longest hours. The man finally opened his eyes, started to breath and
stopped shaking. Partner and I hugged each other and said, "Good job,
Partner. "In a minute, everyone was back in their lines and the
immigration procedures started again.