Jai baba Tunganath...

“Oh my god, I am no where near…” that was the expression I had after taking a bent, on the way to Tungnath temple. By that time I had already dragged myself for a little more than an hour on a slope which was almost at a constant 35-40˚ angle. The scenic beauty was stupendous, I must say unmatchable. I had earlier seen Bhutan … but the beauty here was much different. Snow clad mountain on the backdrop, pale green valley on the other side. The sun was there but the sting was missing. The path was partially covered by snow, specially at the points where the sun failed to send its heat and light… I stood for a while. Chilled air was nibbling my face like small poisonous insects. Looked back, no one could be seen till the farthest and deepest, except Suga. Suga joined me from behind aprox 15 minutes back. I looked at him. A sense of frustration, I thought, had started creeping into his enthusiastic smile. “Want some water?”, I shouted. Suga stretched his hand. I took one of the two bottles, which I had kept inside the pockets of my orange GSK jacket, and handed over to him.

Two bottles, would not these add to the weight? Is the though came to mind aprox one and half hours back. But it is a Lord Shiva temple, should I go without some water? I should also offer some sweets … Thinking that I hid one extra chocolate inside the inner pocket of my jacket. “Jai Bhole”, some one cried while we started for the trekking, which was supposed to be only 3-4 km. “This is the highest Shiva shine in the world”, Ravi, the co-ordinator had exclaimed while settling do’s and don’t’s for us.
I started modestly after a dozen of people at least. “You look sleepy!” Sumeet and Navneet observed.
“Yes I am”, I replied, “I don’t know how to complete this, only 10 meters behind me, and I am tired already.” Two ladies giggled and agreed with me that they were in very similar state as of mine. I crossed them and found Sitanath going at the full speed almost with the leading instructor. I dozed a few others before I could catch up with him, “What’s up buddy?”. We chatted on irrelevant subjects for a while before I started accelerating. Sitanath was keeping pace with me. “Avi da”, Sitanath asked, “after all these activities, do you still have the stamina for the trekking?”. “I don’t,” I smiled, “But, I have the confidence”.

Very soon I found myself alone as Sitanath had settled for a brief rest. The person who was showing us the way was walking at least 50 m behind me. “I am doing good!” I praised myself. With a smile glued to my face, I stepped up the acceleration. “Should be at the top within 45-50 mins” was the thought running in my head. 20-25 minutes on, I was totally secluded. Even the person who was showing the way could not be seen. “I hope the group is not going to abandon the treck” was the predominant thought I was having in mind. I kept taking bigger and longer strides. 45 minutes… No sign of the hill top. I was hoping to see the goal after the tricky bent, which had almost, took my breath away. I am sweating like I used to do in Mumbai local trains. Though of taking off the jacket and tying it to the waist. But the stupid water bottles… I started cursing my decision to carry an extra bottle. Looked down again. Some one in orange jacket is coming pass the bent I had crossed. It was Suga. I thanked god. At least some one is there. Scare of being all alone was gone in a jiffy. I took a moment to appreciate the greens around & waited for Suga to catch me.

“What time is it?” Suga enquired.
“2-45”, I checked my mobile phone.
“I think, we would reach there by 3-00. 3-15”
I agreed. At least the prospect of the journey getting ended delighted me like anything. “We should take small targets. I did the same during this year marathon run and it succeeded”.
“That’s exactly what we should do”, Suga supported, “take one step at a time”.

But each step was turning to be more tedious with passing second. Slope was turning out to be steeper. Even taking one step was getting tiring. Slowly a patch of snow here and a patch there changed to continuous layer of glowing white. Only the pathway was clear. I had never thought that that I would be in such a surrounding. I thought it was too good to be true. Snow was soft in most of the places. As I was stepping on them, my feet was sinking in by couple of inches at least. A nice feeling. I took some into my hands and tried to make a ball out of them, I had seen them in movies. But the ice was too loose, it would not form, my hand was also freezing, I had great faith on my ability to withstand cold weather and never thought a pair of gloves could be useful when did the packing before the tour. Took out my mobile phone and clicked a few shots aimed here and there. I could see a sharp bent a couple of 100 meters ahead. Nothing could be seen ahead of that. “Suga” I commented, “after that bent,I think we would be able to see the temple or the pick”. Suga agreed.

“Oh my god, I am no where near…” that was the expression I had after taking that bent. I had already dragged myself for a little more than an hour by then and felt betrayed by the mountains. “Is this a trick?” I told to myself. Even if I could see the destination, I could plan accordingly. Both of us were tired. I offered the water bottle to Suga with a stretched arm.
“The scenery is unmatchable”, we agreed. We could see the major portion of Kedar and badri peak. There were a few other peaks also… I don’t know their name… Completely white. I wished, if I could bring my family& parents to see them. Since that seemed to be a remote possibility, decided to capture them in camara for the time being.
“We would have missed a lot, if we did not come” both of us observed while waving and shouting at a group, we could locate fur bellow. I don’t know if they could hear us, but felt happy and concerned at the same time. Happy because, I was among the first one to see the beauty. Happy because, I was leading the team. Happy because, a sense of adventure and excitement of exploring the unexplored ran thru my spinal chord. And concerned because if the entire team would be able to come up to share this scene, if they would be able to climb fast enough so that we can start climbing down before it gets dark.
Suga also shared similar feeling. We decided to disembark by 4-00- 4-30. We reach there or not. Otherwise once the darkness settle down, it may get risky. We could get a sense of that risk at the places where the snow was getting solidified and harder. I managed to get a few small slips. But could control myself. The deep valley at one side was like a death trap. A little lapse of concentration, and it could be all over. Suddenly this thought creped in to my mind, “If I fall down and die… “. I pooh-poohed the thought and continued moving ahead and looking up if a glimpse of the temple or the peak is seen.

“Avijit, is that the temple?”
“Ya, I think I can see a flag”. To my horror, the flag that I could see was at 60 ˚ angle and almost further similar vertical height that we had scaled by then. No temple can be seen, neither the peak. It was a tiny cloth, which was moving and could be seen over the ridge of the hill further up. Suddenly for a moment a thought of giving up came to my mind. “It would be too tedious” I thought. And even if I could reach there would it be possible to climb down before the sun sets. What about others who are behind us? Would they be able to complete?
However, the moment I thought about other team members, my thought process shifted to the opposite. I am moving at the front. No one had directed me to do so, but I had decided to come ahead. I have taken the responsibility of leading the tem to the top. If I climb down at this stage, it would be demoralizing for the entire team. Unlikely that any one would come defying our view point that the peak is too far and doesn’t look feasible for climbing. The team would fail to achieve what is has set its goal to. This would spill over to other area including work. In turn I would be responsible for the failure of the team. Am I such a weak person? Can I let it happen? Never… Whatever happens, whatever time it takes, whatever toll it takes on my stamina and health, I would go the destination and then rest. Even if it gets dark before I reach there, I would not stop. It is a mater of honor and self pride. It is a matter of not letting the team down. It is a mater of taking the challenge head on.
“Arise, awake and stop not till the goal is reached” – Upanishad.

I remembered god and thanked him for putting me at this situation, which brought the fire out of me. I thanked him for giving me the opportunity to challenge my limits. I thanked him for keeping me alive to see the magnificent creation of his. I looked around and found myself as a tiny object in the back drop of huge mountains, whose existence is so insignificant to the nature in absolute terms. I realized how foolish it is to get bothered about our ego and wants. What are we in the whole universe? I once again thanked god for making me realize this plain truth.

A small temple came on the way. Devi temple. I rang the bell there and took her blessings so that I could reach the destination. The air had become thin by then. We were getting tired easily. Frequest breaks and rests has became very frequent rests by then. I could see the temple gate. It is no more an unknown destination. Another 500 meters and I would be there. I started speeding up, making my way by firmly putting my foot on the snow. I don’t want any miss at this stage.

I cant believe myself. It is 3-40 and I am standing in front of the gate of the Tungnath temple. I opened my shoes, went inside. Layer of snow every where. Within seconds my socks got wet. My body heat is melting the ice. A pleasing sense of satisfaction and achievement swept my mind. I quickly went to the gate of the main temple. It was closed due to winter. I offered the five star bar that I was carrying to the lord. Offered him some water. And then broke into chanting, “Murth maheshwaram, ujjwala bhashkaram…”
Suga was observing different side of the temples and how far other have reached. I quickly took rounds of the place and found a pyramid shaped stone at one corner. It was plin and slippery and no ice was on the top of that. I went pass its top and found most spell bounding landscape. With the Sun behind me, part of the hill was shiny. Part was dim and covered in fog. It was so silent. Even the noise of air blowing, which I had heard on my entire journey to top was missing. The valley was so deep that one step further or a slip on the slope, I would be lost forever in the Himalayas. A strange sensation of chill climbing up my bones. I took half a step forward. Took out the camera once again and shoot some pictures. The settled for a brief meditation. Within minutes heard other team members joining in.

Very soon the place was full of sound. Subu, Sumeet, Navneet, Vikas, Shreya, Navdeep, Panam, Sukhdev, Situn, Amita, Hemang all started pouring in, Rahul surprised me the most. Congratulations all around. Pictures getting clicked. Happiness and smiles all around. “Yes! We have done it”.

4-30, we started coming down from the top. Heart full of self belief and confidence. We met small groups on the way, still fully charged to reach the summit.

What learnings we can get out of this…

We risked our life to achieve that we thought is a mater of pride to us. Under difficult situation, people motivated each other and together achieved the goal. How many times we risk ourselves or our reputation or comfort to do things at work place or life? We hardy do…
Why? If we can risk our life for a silly thing like climbing a mountain, why can’t we take even a minimal risk to do a wonderful job. Ultimately the taste of success and satisfaction that we had got was sweeter because of the additional effort that we had taken. Why can’t we take a little bit extra effort to improve conditions in our life and work?

Let’s do that…