Mountains and I.

As I start to write this essay, my playlist is playing Kun Fayakūn on loop at a certain low sound level. ‘Kun Fayakūn’ translates to ‘Be, and it is’, which means that “When He decrees a matter, He only says to it, "Be," and it is.” The believer quite simply describes God’s will and absolute control over every creation. So while I am conveniently a self-titled agnostic atheist, I have often said in awe that the above mentioned song does tend to bend me towards theism. So it is likely not a fluke that I felt like playing this song when I am to write about mountains, which is the second creation that made me ponder over ‘existence’, the first being sea. Both seem infinite. And they are!


Mountains! Snow covered mountains, to be extra precise.


So this was my first experience living for a few days at a place so up high from the sea level, so far from the swarming city life, so much without things we considered basics & essentials for a 'nice’ living, so much doing without any doing, so much of undoing, so much organic, so much of everything I never thought of. This is about my first Himalayan trek to Brahmatal in Uttarakhand. I don’t think I need want to write up the trivia of the place and location, Google might just feel envious. I should better be unfolding the rest.

                                                                                                                                                                   PC: Vivek


The trail I covered was Gandhinagar (Guj) to Ahmedabad to Delhi to Kathagodam to Lohajung to Brahmatal Summit and back to base in the very reverse order. And almost all modes of transportations were used in the journey: taxi, plane, train, rickshaw, metro, mules and my very own limbs. And what lay in between was some six days of pure enchantment, chastity of nature that was unmasked, with ceaseless discoveries of wonders at every step. Seeing the glorious sun setting down and just disappearing in a matter of moment was something like an achievement, although all you did was keeping your eyes wide bright open. And how gloriously the sun greets the mountains! Rise & shine of the sunlight with ‘no filters’ over the endless landscape was a trancelike visual. The express sunrays that burned your skin even with suggested layers of sunscreen didn’t bother one any much. Hearing just no noises all these days but only the soothing music of bells on the mules, of the whispers generated when winds traversed with just no barriers in between, of the zealous footsteps of your own and of the co-travelers, of the little laughter and conversations with them, of the little things your heart murmured to your mind, and of the silence that shouted out to your guts. It was also my first meeting with snow, and it was pure love at first sight. (Don’t know what snow felt though, one-sided love, possibly.) The white cover was such as if fresh cotton was sprinkled in abundance across the landscape. Since there was no snowfall during our visit, and a lot of layers had already melted under the sun, we could find snow at distant patches. But for a first timer, it was a miraculous enough feeling to be able touch and see snow. The view of valley and mountains that surrounded was just the live presentation of something which I only saw in paintings by the greatest of artists, while there was also a consciousness that the best artist is not known, neither visible. The Rangrez (dyer) did a great job there with the colors. Shades of green turn to yellow, turn to gold, turn to orange, turn to red, and turn to white, scarlet and purple, here and there. The nights in the mountains right under infinite stars was the most glorious ever. So many deep bright stars as if there was an electricity board behind the skies lighting them up! I could see, feel and hear nature alive everywhere. The air was clear, crisp, fresh and easy to breath. So much for a city dweller! I felt I had all that I needed and I missed nothing really. There was a feeling of tranquility around and inside me. The presence of the almighty did REALLY seem to surround me.

And oh cold! I couldn’t believe I survived the cold so coolly. Till the last moment before leaving, I was worried about the layers I was carrying (which were pretty enough), because I had no familiarity with anything below six or seven degrees earlier. But all turned out smooth and soft, like a fresh whipped cream. Yes it was cold enough at nights to shiver one down. There was a childlike and stunned grin when on the first morning in the mountains I found water in the drum all frozen. This, in fact, is one of the most highlighted mentions to everyone I have been telling about my trip 😄. In all, those were chilled out days, in the very literal sense.


So in four days, we were destined to hike from the base camp Lohajung to Bhimtal camp, then to Brahmatal camp, then to the summit for a phenomenal finale sight of Himalayan Garhwal range of Nandaghunti, Trishul and Mrigtuni, and then hiking down to Lohajung on the fourth day. This was about all it was! Who also earned a mention are the people of mountains, the paharis, who were just as I heard in description from other travelers, sweet as sugarcane. I was amazed not to have found any grime or annoyed face in the villages I crossed up there. Those places and people had no artifice. May be the mountain effects! I want to thank enough everyone whom I got associated with for this trip. India Hikes, who apart from being a professional hiking organizer, equally provided a very easygoing and homelike surround. Our IH aides to the summit were Arvind, Namgyal, Raka & Gopal, each one of them stayed with us even after we left the place. I also have to thank my co-travelers Vivek, Shital, Soumya, Balaji, Sushant, Manjunath, Srinivas, Manish, Deepu, Arun, Sadhvi, Shubham, Vikram, Nishant, Kashish & Rishabh to have serendipitously opted the batch I opted for 😊. As is once read quote by Nelson Mandela, “After climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb.” Sure, I’d say.

While we, atheists and theists, in one voice, appreciate the creator for his creations, we also are in a grim need of contemplating the reverse actions. Nature needs to be equally pampered, to be loved deeply. The soil, the sea, the mountains don’t deserve the filth that we human beings audaciously & thoughtlessly carry around – the plastics, the smoke, the pollutants, the non-degradable, the inorganic. For what if He said ‘Don’t be’?

PS: मैंने सोचा लोग दरबदर क्यों भटकतें हैं ईश्वर या अल्लाह की पनाह में आने को। साल में एक दो बार पहाड़ों में ही क्यों नहीं आ रह जाते। समंदर और उसकी विशाल काया देख मैं हमेशा मंत्रमुग्ध हुई हूँ, उसकी धाक की कायल भी। अब ऊँचे पहाड़ों में भी उतनी ही श्रद्धा हो गयी है। पहले कुछ नास्तिक थी, अब आस्तिक हो गयी हूँ। क़ुदरत मज़हब है, और ख़ुदा भी।


(For more trekking trails, visit https://indiahikes.com/ )