Yes to the World

My first trekking in the Garhwal Himalayas was a decade and a half back. Along with a few colleagues, I was asked to take a group of students to Hemkund whose altitude is about 15,000 feet. On the first day we trekked from Govindghat to Ghangaria. It took us almost the whole day to reach our destination because it was raining in the entire afternoon and we were not prepared for it. Drenched to the marrow of our bones, we continued to climb up and up ignoring the weariness that knocked inexorably against our knees. We reached our destination by sunset.

An icy cold bath in the morning filled me with the vigour required for the next lap of the trek, the steep ascent from Ghangaria to Hemkund. That first date of mine with the mountains urged me to undertake many more treks to equally challenging peaks in the Garhwal Himalayas in the next many years. I cannot claim that I learnt to trust the mountains blindly, but I realised that the mountains have a unique charm and that they offer a romantic challenge.

That is why I find my soul longing to walk into Bhutan and trek to the Tiger’s Nest without a crowd for company. My wife and I along with a guide who is non-intrusive and self-effacing. The trek won’t terminate at that monastery, however. I would like to walk on, walk across national borders, walk into the mysteries of the Eastern rugged terrains, into forbidden cities, walk with the liberty of the birds, walk on without passport and visas, and make an endless date with the world.

That would be my ultimate Yes to reality. Reality is an infinite spectrum from the microcosmic pebble at your feet to the stars and the black holes in the endless cosmos out there. Somewhere along my trek, will I grow the wings required to fly into that infinite space and its mysteries? I wish I would.

I say yes to the little pebble and the giant star, and everything that comes my way; yes to the freezing wind in the mountains and the scorching heat of the deserts; yes to the humming bees and the stinging fleas; yes to the amazing grace of the rivers and the forbidding façade of the cliffs. What else is a meaningful life but an affirmation of what lies ahead of us at each step?

Will I meet Antoine de Saint-Exupery’s Little Prince somewhere along the way? I wish I would. And listen to him say, “And now here is my secret, a very simple secret: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.”

My Yes will resound in the infinite spaces. Let it be a Yes that comes from the perceptive heart.

PS. This has been inspired by Lufthansa’s exciting new campaign: #SayYesToTheWorld and #TheBlindList.

My Blind List is highlighted in the text.

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