A Tryst with the Himalayas

Someone rightly described: The more remote and inaccessible a place is, the greater is its magic!

I'm back after a bit of travelling to some distant parts of the Himalayas. My travels involved two flights, three train journeys, quite a few bus and cab journeys, around 2 hours of horseback riding and about 60 kilometers of trekking (mountain hiking).

No doubt the most interesting part has been the trekking, because it's the best way that I enjoy nature. The environment to trek has been remarkably beautiful. So often I've stopped on my tracks, stood in silence, gazed at the magnificent mountains and taken in its beauty. Nature has so much on display and I felt it's a shame that I have been so busy, sometimes with petty cares, instead of being there to appreciate and enjoy what it offers. Towards the end, the mountains have appeared nearby, yet not close enough not to be in awe of them.

Having returned, I sense right now what I could call is the feeling of re-entry – a feeling that occurs after returning to place of work after a fabulous holiday. It's like how one feels homesick. When I see the pictures that I've shot, I am filled with a strange sense of melancholy. I miss the mountains. As usual, for a few days, I'll have a bit of trouble settling into a normal routine, and that's kind of expected, since nothing can replace the fresh and exotic feeling I've enjoyed the past weeks.

The travel to mountainous Garhwal has been an exhilarating experience. I have enjoyed the majestic beauty of nature where I've taken utmost delight in the picturesque narrow mountain roads, the scenic Himalayan landscape, the ephemeral clouds wrapping the mountains, some green, some bare and a few snow-clad.

I can still picture the scenes of the mist on the trails, with a transitory tone of its own, and also the awesome valleys and ravines, the intriguing melting glaciers, the gushing mountain streams some of which I've waded through, the interesting and at times challenging trek paths, the green meadows, some dotted with wild flowers, the rich vegetation and forests interspersed with craggy rocks, the meandering rivers shifting their shape in the valleys, sometimes serene, other times turbulent and with the fury of the monsoon waters, the gusts of winds, the drizzle and the persistent rains. I've watched the life of the fauna blooming up being nourished with those rains.

As usual, the Himalayan mountains have had an impact on me, rather, on my psyche. I've been captivated by the valleys, meadows, trees, streams, rivers, glaciers, peaks – nature in its unsurpassed splendor! Just a bit of travels for a few days and I can sense it has altered something within me. And I can't help reflecting on just how each of my trips to the Himalayas does that.

I am certainly richer with experience, but I find it hard to accept that a short tryst with the Himalayan mountains gives me a feeling as if there has been a change in direction of my life!

Related post: Garhwali Bears with Tiny Bells.