Baggage ...Ahem!
 |
| "The Beasts of Burden" |
It started with the Shopping... like always..
We were excited and raring to go. The two month wait post booking seemed like an eternity that just would not end.
We had ample time to think,plan, to shop, to shop ...and shop more.
We were quite driven by the modern urban "civilized" people that we are and hence hygiene and smelling fresh in the mountains appeared to be a basic necessity. In went our favorite creams and moisturizers, wet wipes and spare clothes and sweaters and stoles, shawls and floaters, flip flops etc.
For some reason, we believed that we needed to carry food (yeah right! the service provider had clearly mentioned 6 meals a day) and so went in the sattu ke paranthe, dry fruits, chiwda, mixture, khakras, protein bars, mint etc.
Medicines, well we could have treated an entire village for the common ailments, if you know what I mean!
At the end of our packing we felt quite accomplished and satisfied at having ensured everything that we needed was packed.
If you have watched the movie "Wild" you would know how Renee Russo stumbled over backwards while picking up her trekking bag.
We were almost there, and the 60L bags were full to the brim and we had slings for other "stuff".
3:00 am on D Day and hubby dear helped me with the bag. He couldn't help but remark, how the bag weighed and looked heavier and bigger than me and asked if I really thought I could scale a mountain with that kind of weight on me.
I must admit it seemed impossible to me as well.
Upon reaching Auli the Eco Lodge from where we were to begin the trek, we dumped baggage. consolidated the medicines, chucked the extra clothes, kept one kit of essentials like sunscreen and viola, weren't we proud? The bags weighed 3-4 kgs lower than earlier.
Feeling quite glad, we started the ascent to realize that, we had a lot to carry. The weight yet managed to bog us down.
It was warm and suddenly in a few minutes we were cold and needed gloves as well. It could rain with no notice, the sun playing peek a boo with the clouds and the rain.
The weather was like the emotions. Sometimes warm, sometimes cold, sometimes unbearable, sometimes pleasant. Ever changing though. The mind also played tricks and games along with the weather and the ascent brought some strange scenes back to life and memory. Some refreshing, some repulsive.In truth the physical baggage we were carrying suggested the emotional baggage as well.
We reached camp by the evening and we were frozen, quite literally with the heavy bags and the weather. Our ideas of freshening up were dissipated as even sipping water was extremely cold. We focused on collecting logs for a bonfire without which we would have been icicles.
Some more stuff from the bags was shed at the camp site. The extra clothes were given up to embrace the reality that we would be unable to bathe or clean up with water in the cold. Changing clothes too was unnecessary since we were wearing a minimum of 5 layers.
And this was when the bags became light. The physical and the mental. The onward journey now seemed pleasant and enjoyable.
I recalled what my better half and family told me about just enjoying the experience and not worrying about home and family.
At that moment I told myself, "Let Go" and all will be well.
That is when there existed no load in the mind and on the body. I knew that I had to surrender myself to the present and reality and forget about every other part of my life.
They would cope and did cope wonderfully well, in my absence, the only difference being in me.
Brought me to the question, what is all the baggage that I am carrying that stops me from enjoying my journey of life. What is it that I don't want to let go, that makes me unhappy?
Not having any connectivity for 4-5 days at a stretch made me miss my family, but I was not anxious about them. Not knowing what my children were doing, how everyone was coping, did bother me initially.
However being away in the luxury of nature and away from everyone and everything familiar to me, helped me cope. I was living my dream, surrounded by majestic snow covered peaks, walking between the clouds, sleeping right under the stars, drinking water off the streams, listening to every wish of mine come true.
 |
| Pangarchulla Peak @ 4700 mtrs |
 |
| Gorson Meadows |
I knew if I had to enjoy what I had craved to do, I had to LET GO.
Sometimes...hmm many a time in life you have no option but to let go. No option but to go away, no option but to accept the reality, no option but to take the route you have chosen to take.
Carrying unneeded trappings only makes the journey arduous and unpleasant.
Well written... Could visualise the journey
ReplyDeleteBeautifully narrated...
ReplyDeleteBeautiful .. Both the experience & the narration!
ReplyDeleteProud of you Su!