Shlok's blog: Journey of finding the place, where I belong

Himalayas are one of the newest formed fold mountain range of the world they say only 50 million years old, quite young no? :D There are other mountain ranges in different parts of the world but when it comes to the spiritual vibrations and certain purity, there is no place that can match the divinity that runs through the valleys of Himalayas. There were many great saints who were said to be meditating in the laps of Himalayas for thousands of years in the search of divine energy and inner peace. And as I have been there for a while, I can say that the Himalayas offers a unique and unexceptional form of energy and peace.

From my very childhood I was leaning towards spirituality and was practicing meditation that could be the reason I feel denounced with the materialistic world and found no joy while trying to mix with friends and other people. This sparkles a desire in me of finding the meaning of life, and this desire kept growing day by day and soon it got converted in a burning desire, that took me to the mountains, here I am going to share what it feels like being in The Himalayas.

In midnight, putting warm sleeping bag aside, coming out from alpine tent in deathly quiet night, temperature touching -10°C on scale, to have a glance of sleeping mountains but as you come up you became speechless. The mountains at night appears much different from the one you saw in sunlight, the reflection of white light of moon on snow caped peaks shining as if they are showing the mightiness. The stars that is glowing brighter than usual due to less pollution out there and clear view of milky way resembles as the pearls are embedded all over the sky. This mesmerising view would take you to the world of serenity. You can even hear you heart beat that starts becoming slow and calm, and at this moment you will be entering in the stage of inner peace the same, a saint achieves through intense meditation after a lot of practice.

But as soon as you close your eyes and shift your focus to the sounds from the surrounding, you will feel entering into a whole new world where you will be assisted by the sound of small streams flowing downward just few meters away colliding with rocks and running resembles ‘a few month old baby, who just learn how to walk, running toward his mother with affection’. In hurry and excited to explore new places, unaware of how we so called civilised people, have ruined her mature stage here down in plains. Anyways, the sound of streams, the feeling when freezing cold Himalayan wind silently passes tickling your cheek don’t bother you, but you would be ended up with the moment when you are aware but not thinking, the state of zero thought. And believe me these moments are blessed. The twenty-six letters of alphabet are not enough to express that feeling and only those who have lived it, understand why we keep on going back to mountains for more.

I was there for few weeks embracing all those moments but leaving the track came to the road head and approaching towards city life was the hardest thing i had ever experienced, my eyes couldn’t resist rolling tears, it felt like I have left my heart out somewhere on the trails and at that very moment I realised this is the thing I was craving for and this is the place where I really belong to.

This is one aspect of going into mountains but when it comes to mountaineering as an adventure sports, one needs to remember there is no shortcut to the top of the mountains and should never try to undermine its rule. There is a saying about mountains “ Don’t be GAMA in the land of LAMA” and it is true, mountain calls with its open arms but never promises to let you go. Mountains don’t have voice but they can speak, their nature is hostile but they don't get angry for no reason. Other than the locals it is the mountaineers who somehow try to learn how to listen to the mountains and if they don’t, they got to pay a huge price.

They are massive creation of mother nature and they have their own rules, Mountaineering is a kind of sport very few comprehended, where you are in the role of the player, the opponent, the cheer leader and same time the spectator; one can only embrace the mountains if they have accepted the risk and responsibilities that accompanies it.

No doubt it is hard enough to get to the top but once you get there you will come to know about your strength, your breaking point, the feeling of being alone in a county of more than 1 billion people and gradually you would realise that fine difference between the life you've been to and the one you are going in.

In order to test one’s limits one need to get out of his comfort zone and Mountains are the place that test your limits at every step; howling winds, freezing temperatures and sideways snow make even a simplest task difficult, at certain height, lets say when oxygen level starts to decrease and air become thin, every steps becomes harder, The snow which you used to love once, now you will hate it when you come across the carpet of snow and ice, no single sign of vegetation or wildlife except some mosses on rocks and few shrubs that could be more than 4 times older than you are now, but their spirit of surviving and standing still in even worse circumstances teaches a valuable lesson that always encourage you to keep moving coping up with any circumstances.

Every human being born with different physical strengths and to be in mountains one needs to go through proper acclimatisation that requires patience, persistence and proper training. There are some mountaineering institutes in India that offers mountaineering courses, here I've listed some of them:-

HIMALAYAN MOUNTAINEERING INSTITUTE, DARJEELING

NEHRU INSTITUTE OF MOUNTAINEERING, UTTARKASHI

JAWAHAR INSTITUTE OF MOUNTAINEERING, PAHALGAM

ATAL BIHARI VAJPAYEE INSTITUTE OF MOUNTAINEERING AND ALLIED SPORTS, MANALI

NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF MOUNTAINEERING AND ALLIED SPORTS, DIRANG

you can go through their websites for availability of courses and further details.