I’m stuck in the Himalayas. No, this is not a travelogue! I haven’t been really close to the mountains other than a little travel to the eastern Himalayas (north Sikkim) last year. But, I haven’t thought of the mountains more, until the past three days of my life.
Saturday, the 24th of February 2018, she texted me around 1:04 PM that the mobile networks are not going to be favourable. We know, high altitudes are foes to oxygen and mobile networks – the two most important things of modern human civilization (I’m not ruling out water from the list though). So the clock ticked 8 and I was over with work. I looked at the cellphone to realise that there was no notification of a call or text, since 1:04PM confirming that she reached the trekking destination safely. Believe me, I didn’t remember the name of the place, because I knew I’m gonna know anyway once she calls.
Unreachable cellphone number, undelivered text messages and single ‘tickmarks’ on yet to be delivered Whatsapp messages – all these made up for the remaining hours of the day. I said to myself, “oh, she’s a pro, there’s no need to worry. The morning will definitely be more responsible to notify me with a news“.
I opened my eyes to a vibrating cellphone in the morning with mutliple text messages & notification from apps breaking the news of Sridevi’s sudden demise. I just couldn’t help wake my mother & turn on the news channel. In the meanwhile, I started scrolling down the notifications for an update from the mountains.
There was none!
Imagine a kid who feared geography back in school, trying to recollect the name of a remote place and locate it on the map, somewhere in the middle of Himalayas. I finally remembered, its ‘Kedarnath’! Oh, wait, that’s a temple… not a mountain peak to my knowledge. Google came to the rescue with its innovative realtime search-suggestion tool and bam!! There it was, “Kedarkantha”. She went for a trek to Kedarkantha, a place with an estimated elevation of more than 12500 ft. I waited for a call while the clocks ticked away the afternoon. Finally, I managed to get in touch with a relative who could finally give a confirmation that the crew had reached safely on Saturday evening. “But wait, today is Sunday“, I told to myself little relieved, mostly stressed! A day had gone by without any communication from her, and soon the night came & passed away. This was the first time I was experiencing something like this and I realised how hard it must be for the families of the brave who protect our nation at the borders, miles away. With every moment passing, my mind said she’s a pro & must be having a great time at the mountains and my heart pounded with fear, what if! I remember the storm waking me up in the middle of the previous night, when I checked the temperatures & weather conditions of the areas surrounding the Himalayas to understand if she’s in danger. The satellite images were kind to let me sleep in peace that night. But today, it would be three days and I had no idea where this was going.
I don’t understand travel. But I love the view of the mountains, I love to lay myself on the snow and experience snowfalls. I cherish the memories of even the bad weather in North Sikkim, that gave me chills, not of fear but of cold! But this time, it was different.
Monday, 4:54PM my cellphone rang to the voice I had been longing for. She finally called. A different number appearing on the screen did not give much hope at first, but yes it was her. The delayed transmission of the voice, the momentary crackles in the signal and all other disruptions seemed so good that I felt, the human race has just invented the telephone and all flaws were overlooked rather astonishing they were. She said that she needed the detoxification from the recent Gurgaon chapter she had in her career and that she missed me! I thought I would die for those words. The happiness doubled when I learned, she’s gonna summit the Kedarkantha peak the next day (that is today), if weather is favourable. I repeat, I know nothing of travel, but this makes me so proud of her because I know it takes strength to sustain the high spirits at temperature below Zero degree Celcius, it takes lot of courage to stand at an elevation of 12500 ft. and opt for trekking up to an elevation of another thousand feets. I know, she would know how the world looks from the top where the Gods reside and how the clouds are formed like white misty circles of smoke, floating around the clean air that has less oxygen but more life in it than that of the polluted cities.
I was proud of her ignorance for the urban-callings and bravery to overcome physical shortcomings at not-so-friendly altitudes. By the time I finish writing this post, she must have summited the peak. Even if she couldn’t due to any unforseen weather condition, I am as proud as I was, that she chose to do what she does – travel. I’m yet to hear from her for the second time in these four days. Hopefully tomorrow.