A Sunday Morning Walk

It was a cloudy morning. We were supposed to go to Langha, in the hills behind our stay. Who wouldn’t love to?! Especially for a hike, actually climb, on a rocky path covered with red rhododendron flowers. But we didn’t. Which led me on another path, starting near to our room and slopping endlessly. This is one thing about Himachal; the endless paths, well defined, worn out, cracked, dusty, sometimes abrupt ends, sometimes vanishing in the meadows, hills or mountains. I loved it, to walk aimlessly, where the path takes you to beautiful spots, breath taking moments of views, bird watching, or spotting a lifer, at least one every time. Today also there were so many lovely birds of which I could catch a pretty glimpse.

Last night I was heavy with mixed emotions, from multiple incidents. Sometimes the unreal events (which is a mind-made story) put me in greater trouble and confusion. What happened yesterday was I had a sudden clear glimpse on death; how would one feel when their death is closer. In a moment it felt like my perception till now was a lie or rather a fantasized version. I felt more grown up in certain ways. There will be fear, for sure, but it will be a journey from the known to a complete unknown. In the last moments, or the last days if one is lucky to have retained a clear mind, I felt that one would feel the mightiness of death, of nature and the pure magic called living. One would feel helpless and to surrender themselves in to the flow, alone. What could have led me to this clarity was probably a thought, ‘the most constant thing that happens in life is saying goodbye to people, bidding farewell to closer ones, the moments lived together, for all of it to remain as an ‘eternal’ memory’. The more one experiences this, the more one grows, from a soft-hearted youngster to a middle-aged woman with deeper perceptions. In a way this can help anyone prioritize their life and things important to them, beyond anything else.

I was on the trail towards a village at further heights where I met one uncle en route his home. We had a chit-chat about where were we coming from, heading to and what do we do here. He said among a few many other things that he is 70 and more and his life was lived in a good way, in this lap of nature. I was invited to his home where I was served with a glass of sherbet. There has happened a death, in one of his neighboring houses and I met more people who were heading there. I suddenly felt like the thoughts from last night was leading my way. The cloudiness of the day surprisingly did not make me gloomy rather I heaved slowly and kept on in my path.