Missing

Two blogs are missing from my list: Reports of two of my recent hiking trips; to Kuari Pass and Grand Canyon-Death Valley.

People often ask me why am I not writing those, especially when I insist that those were some of the best days of my life so far.

Well, the report of the Death Valley and Grand Canyon trip should be up soon. Ramya is writing a 300 page novel on the trip, and I hope she finishes it up sometime soon. I will post the edited version of that when it's done. Ramya is a fantastic writer, and I am sure she will do a great job in putting those 10 days in words.

Kuari Pass trek... I have made several attempts to write about this one, but my very ordinary writing skills and extremely limited vocabulary do not do a justice to those 20 days. I have tried several times... But I am not able to put up a nice report.

I get nostalgia; I choke up; My fingers freeze.

...

I cant describe my state of mind, all the emotions I had, when I got that first glimpse of all those Himalayn peaks from top of the Kuari Pass. I cant describe how I felt to reach there. I cant expound all those those moments I lived in those 20 days... those moments for which I went all the way from US to India, walked almost 100 kilometers, climbed 8,000 ft. to reach the elevation of 14,000.

I can not.

...

I want to enunciate the feelings I have for those 30 people whom I didnt know before the trip... those 30 people who were part of my my life in those 20 days. I want to write about Milind, Amol, Sushant, and Sripad... I had never met these 4 guys in my life... we met, lived those 20 days together and parted after the hike was over... but they gave me some of the most treasured moments of my life. They redefined the meaning of friendship to me.

I cannot forget those three nites we spent just below the Kuari pass... it was windy... at times we feared that our tents would just blow away with that wind... we would have been dead in a minute had that happened... it was so freezing cold that we would think twice even before taking a pee... we kept ourselves awake by playing cards, singing songs, sharing our stories and dreams, till the wind receded.

I sometimes feel terribly short of words to express these things.

....

I guess some moments are just to be cherished and remembered.. forever.

....

I am sure that a 67 year old man, Mr. Kulkarni, would remember these moments forever his life; I am sure that a certain gentleman; whom we nicknamed 'Motilal', would remember all the pranks we made on him.

...

I am sure that Devang , a 9 year old kid, will remember this for rest of his life. Devang, who puked several times because he could not take the exertion; but, like a brave tiger, reached the summit before everyone else did; On top of Kuari Pass, when everyone was mesimerised and overwhlemed by everything that was on display, this kid innocently asked his father "Baba, Is the trek over?". !!

I wish I could meet these people again... I dont know how it would be; if it would feel same or otherwise. I dont know if I can meet them at all.. but they will always be there with me.