Saturday, January 18, 2014

Bhutan: The first summit, Nyila summit (Day 7)

What a day today was. It showed all the risks of trekking in these unknown terrains.

I had a cold to start with...possibly because of washing clothes in the river and then wearing a linen shirt and braving the cold. 

It was a slow, steady ascent...lot of snow. When I finally made it to the summit, I had a dizzy head. There were Buddhist flags between rocks. I felt privileged seeing what it takes to get a few cityfolk up on these mountains. There were 20 horses carrying our food, bags and supplies including a gas stove and some 300 eggs. The staff would get up earlier than us, sleep later than us, reach camp sites earlier than us and carry a heavier weight and cook, pack and do all those things and yet have a wonderful smiling face.

While one part of our group reached the camp, three of the girls didn't. It was getting dark and we started getting worried. They were with Sonam so in that sense they should be safer. Finally, they returned well into the evening/ almost close to night. It was pitch dark by then. It's a miracle they made it. We learnt that they got lost, Sonam got lost...finally they had to traverse through a jungle, streams and so on and make it back. 

Everyone had different reactions and it was interesting to observe. The ones who were affected, the ones who were helping, the ones who felt responsible. 

Anyways, while giving Reiki to one of them, there was so much energy being drawn from my hands that night that I felt a sensation - a sensation recognizing the fragility of human life. Our securities are all false and mostly to keep us mentally sane. Reality presents itself differently all the time. Risk doesn't have to manifest in mountains - it shows up just about anywhere - that's why it's called so. We take so much for granted - never realize that we are walking on the edge all the time. We can fall off that edge anytime...into the dust of time.

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