Mountains

Winds blow through the lands of the past,
Stabbing through the coats of the present.
Lands erupt with the fertility within them,
Erupted lands bare their whiteness on them present.

Brimming of greens with flecks of rainbow shades,
The same turns yellow, brown, gray, auburn.
Multishade of gray spreads when the weather refuses
to paint with the brightness of the sun.

Lives live with forever change
Minds adjust to live with the lives.
Eyes flicker with beauties that lay
Openly bare, overflow to thrive.

Mountains shed their clothes, their coat designs changing.
Fashion seasons of summer, spring, autumn and winter.
Sometimes picasso, almost leonardo,
monet, gogh, keffe, tagore, rousseau.

Painter or a poet personalizes a mountain
Modify reality suiting their imagination.
Mountain stands there austere and serene,
Naked, clothed, whatever maybe weather’s fascination.

Ask a mountain what it is,
You will get no answers.
No stories to tell of who climbed, who fell,
no heroism, no bells.

Only people make stories
to make mountains interesting.
As if being there isn’t enough
to pacify our dull senses seeking glory.

Mountains don’t seek glory, not waiting to be climbed
Not wanting to be called difficult or challenging.
Standing there quietly, letting weather play,
showcasing events impassively, peaceful or foreboding.

Ask mountains what they are,
You will get no answers.
The weather continues to play.
Play with our questions and answers.

Roopkund

What is your best moment in the trek?
Why do you come to mountains?
What did you take from the mountains and what did you leave in the mountains?

These three questions were posed to us by the camp leader of Patar Nachauni (Uttarakhand) and we were asked to give our own answers without discussion when we returned to Patar after summit. After the questions were asked discussions started and there was a difference to be noticed. The relatively younger ones (recent undergrads) immediately started discussing and words like perseverance, endurance, will power etc could be heard. Most just smiled at each other and didn’t discuss these questions with each other (not in my knowledge atleast). After successfully summiting Roopkund when all of us had returned to the camp of Patar Nachauni, one or two of the camp trek mates randomly asked if we have to answer the three questions and if we have to, when will they be asked. The questions were casually forgotten later maybe even the answers. In my case, one of the questions remained unforgotten and unanswered. I tried finding out the reason but everything seemed shallow, incomplete, dissatisfying or simply not the real reason. Maybe it requires many more treks to be able to realize the answer.