Monday, May 26, 2014

WHY mountains

I'm a person of the mountains and the open paddocks and the big empty sky, that's me, and I knew if I spent too long away from all that I'd die; I don't know what of, I just knew I'd die.” - John Marsden

Everytime I wanna head to the mountains or climbing, I have to  go through a lot of internal and external bickering and resolving to finally take that step outta the door.Internal- coz its just a mind game with enough people having brain washed how my weight is too much to pursue such crazy activities and how knocked knees means all they're good for walking in "nana- nani parks". Internal also since I'm struggling with the question of  "how is this helping me spiritually" ...are these physical activities making me respect the physical body more than the spirit? External coz it's a fight against the folks who will never believe that this is as dangerous as climbing a bus:). Well ok, I know am exaggerating.

Somehow, everytime a holiday comes to my mind, its mountains and more specifically Himalayas that come to my mind. Ok for starters, Mountaineering is NOT fun! (There i've gone and said it! ). It's cold, painful, breathless,toilsome, exhausting, fraught with indecisive decisions to make and at the end of it, loss of limb(s) or life looms like a shadow every moment. What IS fun are the intangible things you take back from your time in the mountains including selfies;). Now that i have gained a wee bit of experience on snow and ice, I am even more kicked to go to those cold ice-clad peaks. But WHY ask everyone of me:)......

First thing.Meet great  people.When you are sleeping, washing, walking, climbing  and even pooping, puking, next to the same people, 24 hours for days or weeks, and yet having a good time, that says a lot. That’s a strong indication of a great group of friends. Even if you go solo, you'll meet people on the way/ share loo/tents/rooms with people. Everyone has a story even more wonderful/worse than yours. You learn to share, to be flexible, to be responsible.  You start seeing the world outside your seemingly long periscope.You start stopping to judge. Humility sets in. Send people to mountains/ into adventure sports and racism may just duck its ugly head forever!?!! FYI: People are what most mountain stories are about;).

                                            (Photo Courtesy: Hemang Gala)
It brings suppleness- not just because of the loss of body weight and increase in muscle power and flexibility( that people like me desperately need;)), but also the way mountains somehow tend to break one's rigid perceptions. As we age, we reverse every advantage and asset that we were born with. At 20, we aren't as supple as we are at 10; at 30, even less...at 50...still decreasing...at 60, some parts of the bones/organs would have been replaced. Similarly, we keep on becoming rigid in our perceptions. Slowly we keep strengthening the walls of the box we have put ourselves in. We stop being able to be empty and receptive to things, people, experiences. We are in a constant state of regression..mental, physical, emotional, intellectual.."Destiny" is often used as a cop out. One way to break the mould is going into nature.Listen.Experience. Reflect. Learn. A trip to the mountains can only leave one refreshed in everyway, despite the hardships that have to be gone through :)

Because no matter how itsy-bitsy we are, we still have the strength and courage to get up that colossal mountain.It does not matter how slow you go as long as you do not stop. At altitude, you get breathless, feel weak, become clammy,feet are lead.....However, you learn that enshrining one's limitations isn't a great thing to do! You push, you cry, you push some more, you persevere. Teaches you a lot about you. True grit! Again, mountains have a way of dealing with overconfidence.Like a mountaineer once told me,'The mountain will decide'.


Minimalistic living - Even for a month of mountains you don't need much. Not even the facewash;). I don't mean in terms of quantity of rations- which depends on the duration of the trip etc. I mean in terms of things you need to survive. You start appreciating small things in life - even a lollipop or a bar of chocolate are more precious than diamonds up there;). You learn to take only what you need. Plus hand sanitiser and baby wipes;).You realise that  the need to buy new crap actually boils down to validation from others.(Don't worry, I still LOVE you, iPhone)

The anticipation of such a trip is amazing. You plan, you dream.... Plans may go awry but you come back with stuff better than the anticipated dreams;). Once you're back- reflective you are! The journey to the top and back changes you immensely:)

A mountain adventure is something that I can take an active part in but that I don't have total control over.....Our constant need to want to control warps our interpretation of what we perceive. The ground for travel is a wandering mind, the tree of travel is a wondering mind and the fruit of travel is to not mind......since travelling,(especially to mountains) somehow manages to trash the ego and rids one of the need to defend one's identity. You accept what you get with humility and happiness.....

Finally and most importantly, like John Muir rightly expressed: I'd rather be in the mountains thinking of God than in the temple thinking of mountains. Sometimes you find yourself in the middle of nowhere and in the middle of nowhere you find yourself. Somehow, with cracked lips, frozen blackened peeling face, and a cold frozen body, drinking  washing with glacial water, sleeping on cobbled  and hard cold earth/wood, pooping in the wild, living in constant darkness thanks to lack of electricity  - basically away from every basic necessity and comfort one is used to makes one also get out of the comfort zone. Easy to say, but its an experience to experience. It brings a humility which the shared snaps and awe they garner just do not emanate. I can't explain it but every such trip( and i've had very few till now) have made me realise and experience things that books and satsangs couldn't. Faith and security work in inverse;).

And then you come back.........

Cindy Ross has put it well when she says “Returning home is the most difficult part of long-distance hiking; You have grown outside the puzzle and your piece no longer fits.” . Even though moored to home and folks ...this happens every time...and stays for a while and every time the time taken to "settle back down" seems to get longer in an apparently linear but actually exponential manner..........

1 comment:

  1. This one is a beautiful post. You have articulated all my thoughts beautifully. It's wonderful to know that both of us were thinking alike ( no wonder we were the slow walkers :-P)
    Please do write, and write more!
    Waiting for your next post Deepa!

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