Traveling is not the best way to escape life. It’s an elixir added to the essence of life. All we need to do is keep close to nature’s heart and break clear away, once in a while.
My alarm screamed at exactly 5 a.m. (the only feature of smartphones that shouldn’t exist). My second morning in heavenly Kasol. I wrapped myself in dupatta and went outside to carve this beautiful morning in my memories. I started walking, no direction or route just a walk into the woods.
He joined me on my morning walk. Scratch a dog and you’ll find a permanent buddy. My best memories of mountains are mostly with these Pahadi angels. The only creatures that are evolved enough to convey pure love unconditionally. Whenever I stopped to click pictures, he used to come back and lick my shoes as if saying “let me take you to the best place”.
Whenever these dogs get hurt, they crawl away into a quiet corner and lick their wounds, and do not rejoin the world until they are whole once again. When a seventy-five-pound mammal licks your tears away and then tries to sit on your lap, it’s hard to feel sad. These dogs are our link to paradise. They don’t know evil or jealousy or discontent.
To sit with a dog on a hillside on a glorious afternoon is like a classroom with no walls. The fact is dogs do speak, but only to those who know how to feel and understand.
There is a serene healing effect in the air of Kasol. It woos you in one or the other way. On my way back to the hostel, I met a beautiful soul, Chandan.
If you are in Kasol then you may come across many people like Chandan, who may not have a body like those in WWF but he is much stronger inside. He is an amazing singer(though I couldn’t understand the lyrics but felt the deep music). He inspired me with his dedication and hard work. Hope to see him soon again.
As we moved ahead I couldn’t stop thinking about people like Chandan. Within the past century, humans have climbed most of the world’s highest mountains. But the misty, formidable high peaks looming in the distance still fill humans with a sense of awe, mystery, and the promise of a great adventure.
The greatest gift of life on the mountain is time. Time to think or not think, read or not read, scribble or not scribble, to sleep and cook and walk in the woods, to sit and stare at the shapes of the hills. This serene environment produces nothing but feelings; By being utterly useless in the calculations of the culture at large I become useful, at last, to myself. I felt my lungs inflate with the onrush of scenery — air, mountains, trees, people. And realized this is what it is to be happy. The only way to propose Nature is by adopting the pace of nature because her secret is….Patience.
I always believed in travelling light in life. But today I realised that I am the one filling my bags with unnecessary layers of regret and needless sheets of frustration and anxiety. It’s high time for me to unpack now.
Unpack your heavy luggage and feel your free soul. Share your morning in mountains experience. The surprising experience is on its way until then keep traveling and keep sharing.
How was your last trip? Comment.
