One Basic Mountaineering course & thousands of stories!
Stories of courage, of fear, of passion, of friendships, of
learning, of failing, of climbing and falling!
Stories of love & betrayal, of tears of relief and
smiles of gratitude!
Stories of intense prayers, of beauty!
Stories of the mountains, of snow, of chilly winds and
rocks!
Of peace, serenity!
And for me most importantly,
Of questions and answers!
Many people who came there had resigned from their jobs and come to experience something different. Some wanted to explore a new sport, some to test their physical fitness, others for the love of mountains....and me?
For finding answers!
Eventually the regular life limits the learning of all the senses. Same people, similar work environment stunts the growth.
How then do I explore the different aspects of myself?
How do I push my limits?
Running on the treadmill in the gym doing better than I did yesterday aint enough.
Scoring better in that exam than my friends aint satisfying!
I wanted something that I feared, something I wasn't sure of myself in, something that tested me every single day and made me fight with myself!
HMI wasn't my idea. It was Vignesh's!
But this course was something that I had heard of in my school days and somehow missed the opportunity to attend it. So when he asked me 11 months back if I wanted to join him, I instantly said a yes.
Big plans were made about working out and preparing for it!
But none of the preparation could ever prepare me for what I was going to experience!
I was to travel to Darjeeling alone, by trains. I have never traveled so far by myself so I was nervous about it. The main question for worry was :
Are the Indian men going to harass or grope or rape me?
To tell you frankly, I was prepared for the worst!
The result?
Indian men, young and old have been more than helpful throughout the trip.
Strangers I met on the way, helped me with my luggage.
Had some interesting conversations with some young men in the trains on Indian economy, politics, Indian railways and what can be done to improve the system and education in India.
First I had Dilesh pick me up from Borivali and drop me at CST in Mumbai. I met Dilesh on Delhi airport in Feb 2014 when I was stuck in transit to Leh due to heavy snowfall! We don't know each other much, we might have spoken a few times at Delhi airport and then in Leh, got in touch through FB and a few chats on whtsapp.
In my journey from Mumbai to Kolkata, I met a young engineer from an elite Indian Institute named Nipun. The 52 hour journey passed by without me getting a chance to listen to one song on my mobile, or read one paragraph from the book I was carrying! We kept talking, laughing, sharing life stories and future plans!
They say you don't fall in love twice!
They are wrong!
Over the last few months I have broken all records of falling in love!
I fell in love with Nitin while we rode the tram, and with Nipun while he intelligently got us both berths ( we were both allotted one seat- RAC 1 and had to share it.), and with many more men who helped, encouraged, motivated and loved me unconditionally!
I will not mention names ( except a few), and will take creative liberty as and when needed.
Before I dive into the adventure again:
Special Thanks to:
1. HMI: For giving me the opportunity to experience mountaineering, the hospitality, learning and the love! Fantastic team there!
2. My Back up support: Parents, family, friends, bosses and office colleagues.
3. Quechua & Puma: Fantastic shoes! Miles of walking, not a single shoe bite!
4. Wet wipes: 1 month- just 2 baths! And still we walk out without diseases- thanks to wet wipes!
In tomorrow's post:
The story of mysteriously rising blood pressure!!
Nice J :) ..we will waiting for next post
ReplyDeleteGood start!
ReplyDelete