Thoughts on Mountains
Looking at the majestic Himalayan mountains in the distance reawakened a sense of wanderlust that often hits me when I see a towering mountain range or a broad and far reaching body of water stretching far towards the horizon. And walking slowly through streets so different than the ones I’ve walked elsewhere, surrounded by vegetation, towering trees, shelters-shacks-one storey houses, 2-3 storey homes, hotels with parking lots on their roofs, powerlines, Tibetan looking people, tourists (not many), bicycle powered rickshaws, autorickshaws, cars, trucks, buses, seeing temples, a mosque sandwiched between buildings during the call to prayer, watertanks atop buildings, a public toilet with three rupees feet and clean, massaged the eyes rather than irritating them. The mountains, majestic in form, magnificent in voice, speak volumes even in silence. Those that are snowcapped speak of stretching to the heavens, their peaks often hidden in cloud from the human eye. But on this day, with sunlight streaming down to earth through scattered cloud in restful blue skies we saw the white peaks in the distance and marveled at their lofty heights.
Treed mountains of lesser height spoke in their voice – offering trees to provide oxygen to the air, timber to be used for doorways, windows, furniture and branches to be used to fuel the bonfires in the streets, and on the rocky hills, wherever a human hand and body require warmth to ease the night’s cold. The mountains speak of life, extremes, hard, cold, yet alive, drawing the attention of the human eye to the heights where mountains embrace and ignore the elements, and dare the explorer to explore at his or her own risk, demanding pain for every perceived gain, demanding respect or death, demanding focus, self-control and self-discipline, knowledge, perfected skills and wisdom – as a basic entry fee to their strongholds. Enter if you dare, climb if you dare, die if you dare. Or watch from a distance, and marvel as the mountains murmur – “you can climb us, play on us, work on us, take what you need or want from us, worship us, curse us; but you cannot remove us for we’re unmovable, unskakeable: and should we be moved or shaken, life around us will be squashed and die.”
