I was awakened in the night by the breeze that whispered through the little openings in the window. I went out and the moon was just in the place the sun was in the evening. I looked at my watch. It was 3 in the morning. Behind, the other two guys also were not able to sleep, so we dcided to trek up to Sarvagnyapeetham. There was enough moonlight for us to climb.
The only thing we had to be careful were snakes. So we set off, armed with a camera and our mobile phone acting as a torch. Though there was no mobile range here, there was enough light in the screens to show us the way. As we trekked up in the darkness, we lost our way twice. The detours led us into a bush where there was no way ahead, and the second time, it led us to an edge of the cliff. Thanking the moonlight, we retreated back to the fork which led us nto the wrong direction. The third path was the right one. Slowly trudging on the cobbled path, we reached the top. It took us around 45 minutes to reach there.
To our surprise, we saw many people around the little shrine that was built of worn out stones. Some were asleep while some were meditating. “Are they sanyasis, or are they naxalites I was being told about?” There was not a stir amongst them as we passed by them. We went behind the little structure and the scene was to be seen to be believed. The full moon was high up in the sky bathing the valley below, which looked like an ocean of clouds that had just frozen in time. On the opposite side was a horizon bathed in pink and mauve and blue. Suddenly there was a flurry of electronic sounds on my mobil phone. There were messages from the earlier day, wishing a Happy Holi. I pressed the buttons on my fone and smsd all my important friends. Once the messages had gone, the range of the mobile failed. We were back alone on the mountains. one with the universe, the sun, the moon and the beauty that surrounded us.
As time ticked by, the moon was setting and the sun was rising. At almost the same time, the wonders of the world that are displayed every day, coincided, only to be experienced by a privileged few. Maybe, it was for this experience, I was here. Maybe, the people around me were just guides for me to reach there to experience the miracle called life.
The experience was one of the most sacred and spiritually awakening experience after my trip to the Himalayas. As I closed my eyes to feel the atmosphere, a feeling of calm swept into my heart. A feeling that cannot be explained, but it was a feeling that would remain distinct in my life forever. Perched high on the mountain I realized, it takes hard work, dedication and persistence to reach to the top. On the way, we find resistence, hurdles, problems… We might trudge the wrong path which can take us to impending disasters or dead ends. It is upon us to know when to retreat, take steps backwards and go on the right path again. At the end, when you look back from the top, the world is the most beautiful, the most exorbitant, and the little problems, hurdles and resistance are nothing but a mere fiction of imagination which challenges us to reach to the top. In the end, only if you deserve to be at the top will you be at the top, and there is no one who will stop you from reaching there except yourself!
I would not continue about my climb down, for it is nothing extraordinary, except that the extraordinary feeling that I carried back from the top. A light breakfast, a heavy lunch, a rocky ride later, I reached my hometown, back into obscure reality that looked more like a nightmare I would like to forget while the trek on the mountain remained etched as a dream that I will remember forever.
THE MORNING IMAGES
As the clouds cleared...
The Sun-kissed Valley
View from the room
The little pond next to the Bhatts house overlooking into the valley
2 comments:
I can understand that people in India are so spiritual, if you have such wonderful places!
Yes Andrea, my country is one of the most wonderful places in the world :-)
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