The Sunrise Trek

It was Saturday, but fortunately was better than the other Saturdays which I spend curling up in my bed from Friday night to Saturday evening.  It was Saturday evening, and I casually texted a guy I met at the workspace about the trek, thinking maybe we could go for it, the next weekend. The guy called back, "When are we leaving? Where shall I come?". And on the other hand, I hadn't even decided which trek... Spontaneous plans are the best.

In Bengaluru, in the nearby range, i.e. 60-70 km, two treks are famous, Skandagiri Hills Trek and Nandi Hills Trek. Nandi Hills trek is a short one, 4 km, to and fro. Skandagiri is difficult and is 9 km to and fro.

Finally, 8-9 months after coming to Bengaluru, I was about to go on a trek, for real. Three of us. 

We boarded the trek bus...from where? Well, does that really matter? And like kids and adults, we had wanted 'the window' seat. One of us gave up. But I and the other guy, didn't. So we took the window seats. In the adjacent rows. But as people started boarding the bus, we all sat together, 3 of us, well, I near 'the window seat'. 

One of us was a Gen-Z guy, he wasn't the epitome of Gen-Z according to him, but he was still the one for me. And, my "Hum jo chalne lage...",  was discarded and now there was playing "505", In my imagination, you're waitin' lyin' on your side. One of the reasons, I didn't want to travel solo was not getting to chatter while being on the journey. Honestly, the best conversations and the fun we had was when we were on the bus. The talks started from the courage of not enrolling the college to the web3 space, physics, astrophysics, anime, books and so on. 

The hours, otherwise would have been idle or would have gone staring out of the window and dwelling on to the past or scripting of the future. Having the buddies on the journey is worth it. Anyway, we are going to reach the destination, with or without them. So why not make it a memorable one, unless you want real solitude. But sometimes or more often, you just don't get the buddies. You realize it's a real thing, as you get old and old. 

The trek started at night, filled with the joy and excitement of watching the Sunrise. The crowd was less, thanks to the Diwali. It was the most difficult of all the treks I have gone for. One of us had wanted to compete, and the only guy ended up gasping for the air for the whole trek. If you have never gone for a trek, then it's worth noting that you shouldn't take breaks often or better not take them at all. Don't drink a lot of water while climbing. The way was rocky and was through the bushes. The real trek. But when you reach the top you realize, "the view is worth it". The sweat and the climb are worth it.

I don't remember if I have watched Sunrise before, I surely would have. But this was different. Watching the Sun rise, from the clouds, as we are experiencing an animation, it couldn't have gotten anything better. Being surrounded by the visible clouds feels like living a fairy tale.

On Skandagiri Hills, there's a temple, so after watching Sunrise, we clicked a few pictures and went to the temple. And we were all set to come back. The clouds were no longer in the vicinity. The Sun was shining way too much for its beauty. 

"Descending is tougher than ascending", this was told by our guide for the umpteenth time. And because it was true. Those who got tired while ascending, for them descending seemed 'just like a wow'. I wasn't tired of ascending, but while descending my feet weren't just cooperating well. The slippery surface caused me to tilt my ankles numerous times, and I was grateful that I wasn't trekking alone. While descending I needed the support so that I couldn't fall. Though I tilted both of my ankles many times. But thankfully, there was no injury, and I didn't fall from any of the rocks, thanks to someone. Someone will always be out there for you, no matter what.

There are awesome memories from the trek and the variety of talks we had. Totally unexpected. That if I look back, I'll want to go again for the same trek and probably with the same people. 

One should travel with young people if not anything, you'll just realize how old you are or just how spoilt they are and if it gets really better, you'll be amazed by their smartness, courage and perspective.