A MAN CAN ADAPT TO ANYTHING, IF NOT GIVEN A CHOICE

Climbers, Hill Walkers and Mountaineers
Had been fascinated with climbers, hill walkers and mountaineers. I had always watched with wonder in magazines and television, people climbing new and great heights. The effort, the preparation and the will power, the pre-requisites.

It used to really charge me up. Many at times I had passed several mountains or hills and always imagined myself climbing them. Finally the day came for my dream to come true. Was in Pune. My office located on the outskirts of the city with mountain ranges beyond. I always watched those hills from a window often wondering �if ever then when?�

Woke up one Saturday morning and realized that the day had come. Had not read Mountaineering: The Freedom of the Hills, published by The Mountaineers, which is widely considered the beginner�s bible. Had to prepare for it on my own. Dug out a bag from somewhere. Bought a water bottle, 4 biscuit packets. Put a kitchen knife (for cutting branches and for fighting off any wild animal). A very na�ve climber, I was. Clad in jeans, t-shirt and sports shoes. It was a rainy season. Caught a bus and got down 2 km away from the foot of the hill. Had my bag on my back.

The Twins
They were twins, the hills I mean. Had to choose between the two. Picked up one. It looked easier. Its peak was more clearly visible. Appeared easier to scale.

I stood at the foot of the hill wondering about the path that I should choose for my ascent. After deciding on it, I realized that I could only base my decision of the track for 3 to 4 meters in height only. Beyond that the terra firma would change and again I would have to decide on the path. The terrain is not as it seems to be. It changes every couple of meters. Many at times I had the illusion of firm terrain ahead of me, but when I set my foot on it, it turned out to be soft and thus had to choose an alternate path. A few times I had to compromise on the height that I had gained so that I could walk on safer ground.

My protective instincts came alive as I climbed up.
  1.  I started avoiding walking past a bush. There could be something or anything inside it. Did hear some rattling inside a few of them as I went past them.
  2.  Got careful about the holes/small pits in the ground and stack of stones. A harmful creature may have its home there.
The two things was most careful were the snakes and the bees. Maybe I was overreacting but I guess that it was o.k. It was my first time.

Well the climb is was not as easy as I thought and when I say that, I don�t actually mean the physical ease only but mental ease too.

Took a break. The place where I sat had a big stack of stones near by. 3 to 4 small trees were jutting out of them. But I was careful and alert. I was now and them looking around me in case of any approaching creature. There is a soft stream of water flowing beside me. Coming somewhere from the top. A few birds are chirping from a distance. Could see some civilization far away on left side and more mountains beyond the landscape on the right side. Looked at the peak on the up side. Drizzling started , so I started for the top.

Sound of nature
On my up, I heard some sound coming from my left at some great distance. Looked towards it, wondering what it was. It was approaching me. I could see nothing. Only trees and more landscape. I was all alone. What was it? The noise became louder and I realized at that instant that it was rain and was heading towards me. Thought that it would be a light one. But not, it came down heavily. So I looked around for a shelter. Finding none I spotted dried leaves fallen down from trees. Huge ones. Grabbed them. Tried to make an umbrella out of them and put it over my head. By the time I did that the rain stopped. But now I knew what to do when the rain comes again. As for the bushes and the unpredictable terrain, I broke a long branch from a tree so that I can feel the ground before walking on it.

Now I was armed a bit properly. Dried leaves in my left hand and the branch in my right hand. But I needed one hand free to climb properly. So I threw away the leaves and went on climbing up.

�TO REACH YOUR DESTINATION YOU HAVE TO DO IT ALL BY YOURSELF�
You are on your own. Have to give away all the support.

Could see the top of the hill getting nearer and nearer, urging me to get there quickly. But the terrain was slowing me down. After climbing up a few meters my stick broke. Then I realized that along with poking the ground I had also been using it to support my weight.

�A MAN GRABS ON TO A SUPPORT AT THE SLIGHTEST HINT�

The Scaling
Well now I no longer needed the branch. I was just 10 meters away from the top. The trees were no more there to help me climb up. I had learnt by that time that trees are a great advantage when climbing up. Now what lay ahead of me was a rocky terrain. Huge boulders partially buried in the hill. Small rocks, pebbles. My climb would turn in to scaling. Now I had to be very careful. Not to be mislead by a firm looking rock. It had been raining, the rocks might be a bit loose. So I always checked the rocks above me by tugging at it, checking it. One mistake and I am going to fall down on those rocks and trees. Well I did slip a couple of times. Went on slipping with my hands searching desperately for something to hold on to. Managed to hold on every time. Whenever it happened, I used to lie there hugging the hill. Not letting go. My whole life flashed before my eyes. I knew I could turn back any moment and avoid all this. I could not even see the top now. Did not now how much farther it was. Hoped it was near. I didn�t want to go back. I don�t know buy I disregarded all this rational thinking. Wanted to try as far as I could. Didn�t want to quit. Did get scared from time to time but that was not going to help.

"A MAN HAS TO KEEP ON GOING EVEN WHEN THE END IS NOT VISIBLE�
A man should have a lot of trust on himself and his decision. The same trust that was when he could see his goal, when he was on safer ground.

The Top
The slope was getting steeper. Now what I did, I kept my whole body in contact with the rocky terrain and started to crawl up. A few centimeters per each step. If it was going to be slow so be it. I am not going to lose patience. Have tested it on plains. Not it needed to be tested at heights. I decided on a new strategy. First I was putting all my strength either on my hands or on my foot. So whatever hold/footing was there I was not sure whether it was firm or not. Decided to bring all my limbs into picture. Distributing my weight on all four of them. Checking for firmness one by one and hoping that my guess was correct, moving on. It did work. I could feel the pain in my hands, legs and stomach. Full of scratches, they were. Was exhausted, wanted to drink water, but could not. Wanted to rest but then again would start slipping which would mean more scratches and above all, the loss of height. Had to go on. Stopped looking down. It scared me. Just hoped that the top was near. Could not look even for a couple of feet beyond while scaling up. The nearest destination would be a rock jutting out from the hill�s surface. I pulled and crawled and pulled and crawled all the while pasted to the hill. Could not afford to get up or move away from the hill�s surface. Risked falling down. At last I pulled my self up one last time and felt that the surface was more horizontal now. Did look any where, just laid there, closed my eyes and tried to gather my strength. After a few moments did get up and realized that indeed I had reached the top. Said to myself �I am there, I am there. I am there at the top. It�s so real. It�s hard to believe, but I am there. After such a long waiting. And it�s beautiful for up here. It�s life out here�.

There was no tree up there. A strong wind was blowing. It was cold up there. Did not know where North � South was. Did not have a compass. It seems to be as if I was at the top of the world. Could see everything. I was shivering a bit. But it was life out there

Just then it started raining. Thank God it had given me time. Had the rain come a bit earlier it would have caught me very vulnerable. It would have made things tougher for me. That was really close. I wonder how would I have managed the rain hanging there. Sat there in the rain, huddled up. Keeping my head down. Wanted nothing at that moment. No desire. Nothing. Could hear the rain drops all around me. It made different sounds when it hit different surfaces like the ground near me, my ears, my clothes, my shoes. It was the only sound my ears could hear at the top. After sometime the rain stopped. As I got up I realized that may small creatures like the ants etc had taken shelter from rain under my legs. They must be amazed to see me. Some stranger had come to their world. Could be seeing a human being for the first time. It was exciting. Felt like the character in Gulliver�s Travel.

Time to go back home
After spending a couple of hours at the top it was time to go down. Time for another decision, as to which path to choose. It is more difficult to scale down than to climb up. The path by which one climbs up may not necessarily be the path to climb down. I did decide on a path. Walked a few steps and then realized that it was not the one. So searched for another one. You know, why it harder to get down? First thing is that you have to look down now. Many at time your eyes get strayed beyond a couple of meters and you find yourself gazing at the full depth up to the ground level. Thoughts about falling down start flashing your mind. It gets more scary. Also while climbing down you have to push/pull yourself, meaning you have to lower yourself down and can�t let yourself fall free. There are two ways to get down. Either lie on your stomach and let your foot do the searching for a foothold or lie on your back and let the eyes do the searching. The second option looks better, but actually it�s not. That�s because in the second case you are not able to use our hands properly. Their grasping strength is compromised. Well I learnt it the hard way. I knew one thing that I had to keep my body in complete contact with the sloping surface. And what I have to do is to allow my body to slide down the hill slowly and slowly. Well yeah it does mean more scratches, but I had no choice, the slope was very steep at the top. I just could not step down the slope. The deciding factor for the path to be chosen was how early I could reach the trees. Now I realized what a great advantage or leverage from a tree comes while climbing down. I had just one more thing to think about, my bag. Although it was 2-3 kg but now I felt it to be 15 kg. I was getting tired and my body was wearing down. First I decided that I would hang it on my back and slide down the slope on my stomach. But I felt that in between I may need to switch it to my back side also and I may not be able to free my hands to take it off. So I would lower down my bag first to a place from where it would not fall. Would slide down lower than the height of the bag. So it was a turn by turn sliding down for the bag and me. The rain could come any moment so I better be going. At last I started my descent.

The Fall
The surface was all wet. I was layered from head to toe. Could not even feel the pain of scratches. At one moment when I kept my right foot down, I realized that it was shivering a lot. Blood was rushing hard through my veins. I took some rest. Many at times I would slide down a greater down a greater distance. And then I would not be able to reach the bag which would be left behind a couple of feet above me. So I would have to climb up again to get it and lower it down. Could not just throw the bag down. If it fell down the wrong path I may never be able to get it. I switched between my back side and stomach side. Was covered with mud, leaves and small stones all over from head to toe. To get down 5 meters it took me 45 minutes. I would give that to myself as I am not an expert in mountaineering. I did slip, a couple of times. Once it happened and I dug my fingers in to the surface through the mud and the stones, hoping to hold on to something. And I kept on slipping. Moved my foot vigorously to search for a firm footing. Pebbles and stones grazing my stomach. Fell a few feet only, the friction of my body with the rocky surface was breaking the slippage. Did found some hold. Felt as if death was near but life didn�t want to quit.

Friend or Foe?
At last I reached the first tree. I could rest for a while now. Now it could rain. The slope is not that steep now and trees are also there. Well now my descent got fast. Now I could get up. Not standing completely actually but leaning to one side with the help of one of my hands. I was able to travel faster. My path was now governed by trees. At times I use to skid on my feet over the mud by sitting down to reach another tree. As I caught one tree something pierced my hand. It was a thorn jutting out from a tree. �So all trees were not friends�. I improvised. Now I started to scan the next tree before going for it. I realized that trees and routes were a bigger danger than snakes and insects. You tend to trust them. Well it started raining again. But now I did not feel the rain. Many at times while going down I did not even realize that it was raining hard. My mind and body had adapted to the environment.

�A MAN CAN ADAPT TO ANYTHING, IF NOT GIVEN A CHOICE�

Along the way I found a stream of water flowing. Washed myself. Cleaned my cuts and bruises. Reached the road. It was a 2 km walk all the way to my office. Legs were aching. Luckily got a ride to the office. Looked at the tamed peak once again. Thanked it for taking care of me. Caught the bus at 6 PM. Had started my ascent at 10 AM and descended finally at about 5 PM. 6 hours of non stop thrill, action, suspense and full of life. What a day it was.

Got down at my Bus Stop. Was devoid of any thoughts. Was just looking at the world around me, shops, vehicles, people, trees, towering buildings, power lines, telephone lines, traffic, roads. No worries. No desires. Nothing. I was at peace. Was looking all around me as if it was all new to me. Those 6 hours had shown me a different world altogether. They had taught me what life was all about.

Reached home. Took a bath. Was feeling very fragile as if any part of my body would break any time. My friends called me for a movie. Went for it. Reached the theater. One of them told me later that I looked so calm. Took my seat in the theater. Did not speak all though the movie. My friends were laughing, enjoying it. Meanwhile I was in total peace. I was alive.

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