walking in the clouds...

                                       pics taken by me on the himachal trip

clouds have always fascinated me...so have mountains...

my favourite vacations are those that i've spent in hilly or mountainous regions. i prefer to call them the Kingdom of God!

my trip to Darjeeling, when i was 4yrs old...and the trip to himachal pradesh last July...are two trips that are very close to my heart...

of the Darjeeling trip i have very few memories...but the few memories that i have are very precious to me. it was on this very trip that i almost lost my life!!

maa, baba and i had been walking down a narrow rocky road from a shrine atop a mountain...the path was so narrow that three people could barely walk together side by side...on one side was the mountain...and on the other............well....almost nothing......

several feet below there was a tea garden....

the best thing about mountains is clouds...especially the low ones...the ones that float past you or even through you... and i've always...always had a fascination for them! i love walking in clouds....i love to feel the clouds surround me...i love to feel Nature overpower my senses...i love to loose myself in the clouds........

to me its pure bliss...

that day, while coming down that narrow path, i had spotted a wispy white cloud. possessed by the idea of following it, i ran down the slope...hands outstretched...

i could hear my parents asking me to slow down...to stop......but at that moment nothing else mattered...i just wanted the cloud...i wanted to feel it...

running...i finally caught up with it and felt myself being embraced by its softness....i was so happy...i'd never know such joy before...it was heavenly...

Suddenly i heard a scream....it was my mother calling out to me....and right at that moment the cloud dispersed...i realised i was standing on the edge....facing a stationary tourist bus...

i turned around to look...maa was saying something...but i couldnt hear a word....her voice was drowned by the sound of an engine...and the sound of tyres moving on rocky ground... as i stood there transfixed to the spot trying desperately to figure out my mother's gestures and soundless words...a big tourist bus zoomed past me...

it was then that i realised the situation in full...and the realisation shocked me....i had been so close to death...had i moved one step to either side i would have been killed...

i've never been this close to the End before...but this "End" marked a new beginning....it was the beginning of my affair with the clouds....

i still follow clouds....i still love walking in them...i still love to feel that bliss that i've not found anywhere else on the earth.........