Art of Loving

          Considering the fact that love is life, here I have avoided the obvious title for this story but it is almost there.

This was a weekend getaway on a riverside ashram just outside my city. The name itself was a major motivation to join this program - happiness program. Anyway I never expected it to make my life happy magically but I knew that a weekend away from city in the wilderness can only be better than struggling to pass time in malls or multiplexes.

The Friday evening long drive began at home & reached the end of the city, crossed picturesque river Mahi on NH-8 & in the last lap, crossed muddy farm roads leading to the Ashram. Not much was there to do except from getting settled in our rooms, having Sattvic dinner & enjoying Satsang music.

Sleeping late is also a kind of happiness for many but you have to sacrifice it for the happiness program of life. Anyway for past many years my morning starts around 5 only so I was ready in time. Early morning, trees all around the ashram & a river flowing nearby - it can't get any more refreshing than this & I could easily forgot about my morning tea which wasn't to be available till 8 am.

There's no need to tell anything about the program as it was just perfect. Most importantly one comes to know that we have been searching happiness everywhere in the world but the key to happiness is within us.

Drenched Adventure

           I like the monsoon very much, I like the aroma of wet soil after the first rain, I like the romantic atmosphere that monsoon brings, but I don't like to get wet & stay wet for long & that's what got to me on my very first trekking adventure.

Now as the April tour of Mount Abu wasn't as delightful as expected, I jumped onto one Saputara trekking adventure. The Saputara trekking camp was just another weekend getaway for me & I never intended to do actual trekking there. But I oversighted the fact that summer was already over & in July it rains almost all day in Saputara.

      The adventure began in a very cheerful & lively fashion as it was mostly filled with youngsters who played music all night & set the tone for the time ahead. Night journey was sleepless as usual for me but being a sitter bus it was sleepless for my back too.

     Anyway this being an adventure trip with very reasonable charges, I was quite prepared for some ups & down. The breakfast from the host came late but it was worth the wait & helped me forget the painful night. The first destination was Table point which actually turned out to be dining table point with almost everybody having hot Maggie noodles. 

It was drizzling in the morning & felt pleasant too but actually the rain gods were just getting settled on the pitch & began to score rapidly just after an hour in the field. The youth was mostly happy & managed to hold the field. I was completely drenched under my raincoat but looking at the young, cheerful (some of them beautiful too) faces, I kept going on & faced the rains bravely.

    I didn't want to quit & I didn't for about an hour, but my body was shivering & my feet got cramped - it was like bathing for hours & then not having towel to dry yourself. So I & some other young boys who shared my feeling started walking for shelter & landed heavily (due to wet clothes) on our seats in the bus. Thus concluded our pre-lunch outing which was meant to be a glimpse of the hills & a taste of trekking.

      Lunch was good but the atmosphere was still the same and I felt like having a second breakfast. we were just chatting & relaxing in the tents after lunch & suddenly it was almost evening as we had no reference of sunlight.

      The Sunset point visit was an action replay of morning tour - hills, rains & hot bowls of Maggie were again the stars of the show. The only exciting moment was someone offering me to click my photo in the otherwise boring evening.

Sunset point walk

       The day had very few moments when my clothes were dry but the nightmare was yet to come & that too without sleeping. The tragedy in the tent was our own fault actually as our group which was full of youngsters entered the tent without drying & made all the beddings wet. It was a long sleepless night which took ages to get over.

     Even though the situation was miserable, I never thought of quitting the trip until I felt sore throat in the morning. That & the news of flood situation in many parts of state were enough to quit & get back to home as soon as possible.

    Thankfully the misfortune didn't extend to the journey back as I got an SUV ride at a reasonable price. Thus my first adventure trip ended with a dull climax.