Disclaimer: The thoughts and perspectives in this blog post are mine alone and may not be subscribed to, by my fellow teacher trekkers..

I always find nature to be a thought provoking teacher and this trip was no exception to that rule. My learnings are in bold..

I started on the trek (with a group of fellow teachers) with a bit of an apprehension – Can I or can’t I? Deciding not to give more space to that thought, lest it decides to control me, I pushed that thought aside and just trekked on. Sometimes in life, we just need to shrug off our own doubts and move on; else it will shrug us aside and move further within us.

It was a beautiful sight to see as we proceeded towards Nandi Hills in the bus. Was the mountain top really flat or were the clouds responsible for making the mountain top appear flat, I am not sure :-); though there was fog on one part of the mountain and lack of fog on the other part of the mountain. Amazing sight!! Many times that is what happens to us also, isn’t it? Sometimes clear in our thoughts and sometimes foggy!!

 

In the group, some of us are seasoned trekkers.. some of us are seasoned walkers but not trekkers.. and some of us are neither but we either are able to walk at a faster pace or find it a challenge to walk – all of us come with our own experiences and with our own competencies, be it trekking or other aspects of life 🙂

We all started the trek together and were climbing up more or less at the same pace for the first few steps. Then the pace differed and hence the gap between groups also widened. The need hence to motivate the members of the group who were slowing down in their steps, was but natural.  Easing off their baggage or motivating them by saying “You can do it”, may work with some and may backfire with some. When one is not able to move forward fast because of their own limitations, one also thinks that they are slowing down the pace of all the others. When this thought occurs, a baggage gets added in their mind and this is not visible to others. So when others motivate and offer to ease off the physical baggage (with their own thoughtful intent), it makes one feel more guilty and a wall comes up, resisting all offers of help; because of that streak of independence that rises within. Too much motivation sometimes and in some people, causes frustration!!

Nandi Hills was supposed to have been one of Tipu Sultan’s summer retreat places. The architecture that I saw left me spell bound, be it the structure which was built for people to take rest.. or the ones that were built for the soldiers to guard the way to the retreat.. or one step that had the inscription ‘virAma’ which means recess. It was an interesting discussion that we had at this point, on the difference between the word ‘rest’ and ‘recess’. They maybe synonyms but there is a difference is what we unanimously concluded – rest is a break taken for a longer time (which could also mean halting for a few days) while recess is a short break of a few minutes.

 

 

There were shrubs and bushes on either side of the trekking path. Intermittently we would find some flowering plants. Saw this closed flower and was wondering if this is a bud or this is a blossomed flower that has closed its petals back inwards, ready to fall from the plant. Ah!!! Life is all about perspectives, isn’t it? And whichever way you look at it, is valid from your perspective 🙂

When we reached the top of the hills and walked towards the point the groups were to meet, we saw this couple getting out of their car. The gentleman dropped a used tissue paper on the ground and was taking out something from the car. I was wondering how to tell him that he cannot throw paper on the ground, when we are crying loud for a ‘Swachch Bharath’. My first thought was “It is a stranger I am going to tell this to, what if he slaps me on my face if I am so direct?” Mentally rehearsing what I wanted to say, I walked over and said, “Something just fell from your hand”, and he picked it up (I meant the tissue):-). I remembered just then, reading a line in a book ‘If you pride yourself of being a critic of yourself, also pride yourself of being an appreciator of yourself’. Well, I did just that 🙂

We trekked up and down in different groups, walking at different paces and reaching the destination at different times. The groups that reached early, patiently waited for the other groups to reach. There was NO question from the groups that reached early, to the other groups on why they reached late. Instead, there were calls to find out if everyone was ok and checking the headcount. Personally I found this touching, as this DID NOT add pressure on the group that reached late, especially when there were some of us for whom the trek was a challenge by itself. As we walked back there were discussions on how good it was to trek at a slower pace as it gave time to chat up, look around at nature and enjoy the scene around.. of how it is important for some to reach the destination fast as they thought chatting up and slowing down drains energy.. of how for some, testing how fast they trek gives an idea of their fitness levels; and once they know their fitness level, they take time off to look around and relish what they see.. This gave an idea of how people view the same experience in different ways.. We reach the same destination at different times.. Though the direction is the same, the way we journey through is different.. The same situation that we experience, we look at it differently when we were young and when we are we are a few years older.. The way we experience a short outing when we are with our children, is different from the way we experience a similar outing with our friends; with each of the experiences giving a different learning experience.  We express a desire to travel together to a destination, but do we actually travel together? When we travel together as a group, is it possible hence for some bonds to form and some bonds to break? 

As we came to the foot of the hills, we looked up to see what we had climbed – 3200 steps up, 3200 steps down and approximately 1400 meters above sea level. The only thought that occurred was ‘We have scaled a great height’. It was indeed interesting to see how this thought was a trigger for me to look at the journey of my life, tempting me to say “I have scaled great heights” 🙂