Riders on the storm

I came home today tired and weary, wondering and thinking(iv started doing a lot of that nowadays) as to how I would explain to you the course of events of our trip to manali, but the more I thought the more I realized what a futile effort it would be…I realized I could tell you what it felt like when I looked at the entire mountain I was going to climb from a distance but how can I tell you what it felt like to put my first foot at the base not knowing when i’d reach the top…. I can tell you what it felt like to look at sudhakar sir and admire him for walking with a bad knee but I how can I describe the expressions of excruciating pain seen at times on his face because of his knee…. I can tell you about the joy received when I finally took a break in the middle of a decent but how can I tell you what it felt like to be stung by a bee on one such break…I can tell you about the relaxing feeling experienced when a cool wind blew over me in the afternoon but how can I tell you what it felt like when the same wind pierced every bone in my body when it blew at night…I can describe to you the warmth we received through the fire which was the only thing that kept us alive when we were stranded at 12,000 feet but I cant tell you the admiration I felt for those who went down to cut that wood in the middle of a freezing night…I can tell you about my joy on reaching our destination and admiring it but I cant tell you what it felt like to look down from the edge of our destination at the base from where our journey began, knowing fully well that a slight slip might send us back there in a matter of seconds because now when I look back at the trek I realize that the journey always has more stories to tell than the destination…I can tell you about the fun I had on my eighteenth birthday day party but I cant tell you what it felt like to have a whole new world open up to me as an adult…I can tell you the feeling of eating after a strenuous trek but I cant tell you what it felt like to eat a scrumptious non vegetarian meal while others shopped…I can probably tell you about the enjoyment on this trip but there is no way I I can tell you how much I miss it sitting here at home…No...I cant write anymore about this trip simply because any more writing on the proceedings of this trip would be a sort of insult to the trip…it wasn’t a trip it was an adventure an adventure that made a man out of me, an adventure that will haunt me, an adventure that has changed me whether for the good or bad only time will tell.

- shahvan