Lockdown in India has brought some positive environmental news from clean rivers to clean air at many places. Pollution has declined drastically and as a result, people are able to see distant things. According to some posts on social media, people living in Bihar have reported that they can see snow-capped mountains which is an unusual sight from plains. Residents of Bihar’s Singhwahini village claimed that the visible peak is Mount Everest. An image shared of the landscape where the Himalayan range can be seen has been doing rounds on social media. The image has been shared by Ritu Jaiswal, Mukhiya of Gram Panchayat Singhwahini on Twitter.
Jaiswal has posted a zoomed-in image claiming that she could see Himayalan peak from her village and the mountains were easily seen from her terrace. Her tweet read “Nature is balancing itself.” Further, she said that it is the first time that Mt Everest has been seen from that village. Earlier, she said, lower ranges of Himalayan mountains were visible after rains but the Everest peak was never before.
It is to note that the Sitamarhi district being a part of the Tirhut Division in Bihar is located quite near the Indo-Nepal border area. While the distance between the district and Mount Everest, as shown on Google Maps, is 205 km, the aerial distance between the two is around 194 km.
हम सीतामढ़ी जिले के अपने गाँव #सिंहवाहिनी में अपने छत से #MtEverest देख सकते हैं आज। प्रकृति खुद को संतुलित कर रही है। नेपाल के नज़दीक वाले पहाड़ तो बारिश के बाद साफ मौसम में कभी कभी दिख जाते थे। असल हिमालय के दर्शन अपने गाँव से आज पहली बार हुए।#NatureisBalancing@KashishBihar pic.twitter.com/Ss3UHAzxWN
— Ritu Jaiswal (@activistritu) May 4, 2020
When asked, Jaiswal also explained the geographical position of Sitamarhi district after stating that the image showed Mt Everest and not any other range. It was also pointed out that people who grew in that village, in the early 80s, could see the mountains. She has also assured many people on Twitter that the image was real and taken by her only that too from her own terrace.
Becasue definitely when we can see snowy peak of the Himalayas, the highest ones can only be scene and everest is in the north east of our village and this pic is of north east. And my husband in their childhood used to see everest in 80s. So we are sure that its the same.
— Ritu Jaiswal (@activistritu) May 5, 2020
When someone asked the woman how she could ascertain it was Everest and not any other range, she explained the geographical position of the village and claimed that people who grew up in the village could see the mountain in their childhood in the 80s. As many raised doubts, the Mukhiya assured that the picture was real and had been clicked by her from her own terrace. While some questioned the authenticity of the image, others were simply mesmerised by the landscape and also got into references from some published books.