The moment of Truth
Occasion: Trek to Rajmachi fortPlace: On the way to the mountain-top, along a horribly messed up way, far away from the regular well-set trail that sane trekkers follow.
It's 2 o'clock in the afternoon. The Sun is beating down on you from a cloudless sky. The occasional breeze has stopped blowing to add to the scorching heat. You are halfway through a rock-patch, third in a row and the most challenging, holding on to whatever little grip you get on the hot rock face - the typical black bassalt of the Sahyadri. You have finished the stock of water with you long back, and now your hands and legs have started to tremble a bit. You are in a position where you can't turn back, as the path (do you call that a path, by the way?) that you climbed up is even harder to descend - next to impossible. The only way is up. But where do I have my next grip? Hands have turned into an equivalent of legs for this vertical climb - sometimes bearing almost all of your weight as you lift one of your legs up to put into the next best hinge within the rock.
Then, there comes that moment. Only a single moment, when you tend to go numb - you can't think - you can't move a muscle, you feel faint. A faintest glimmer of "that" thought. Just that single moment. What next? The next moment, your senses rush back to you. What were you thinking? Ok, here's the situation. Is there a way to go back? No. Is there another way up? No. Ok. So the only thing to do is by whatever means, you have to go forward on this path. You have to look at it in the eye and face it. It's difficult, yes, but not impossible. Concentrate now. One step at a time. Foot by foot, you climb up. Still further up. And further. You complete the rock face. You look ahead in great anticipation to see some flat land - the mountain top. Uh oh. Not so fast. There's still that super slippery 70-degree slope of loose soil to pass. Here, there's no grip for the feet - your hands are now your saviours. You grab the stems of the small bushes of "Karawi" and heave yourself forward - and forward, and forward. After one long hour of continuous effort, you cover that final patch and reach the top. Oh, there's your prize - that tree right in front of you, welcoming you with open twigs and dense shadow underneath. You lunge forward, throw away your sack and throw yourself down into the shadow. Believe me, this is one of the best feelings on earth.
It's the first time I had "that" thought in my mind - "what next?" and that single moment of numbness. The moment of truth, as I call it now, for it taught me how lovely life is. That makes this trek special for me.
It was the day of Mahashivratri.
posted by Sandeep Limaye @ 2/27/2006 07:01:00 pm
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