A PEEKABOO WITH MOUNTAINS

“We’re taking a Vacation!” These very words fill the air in the room with excitement and anticipation. One forgets one’s real-world and gets into dream-world; wondering the potential fun, new experiences, the differences, breaking the monotony and so on to come.

Ever since the survival for everyday has gotten us all enslaved to monotony, we all crave for vacations–they’re like income, either in installments or lump sum; we love them.

Vacations, these days, include taking a small or big trip out of station with all our kith and kin, either visiting the tourist destination or exploring the various geographies across the globe in search of peace, love, happiness or all!

My last encounter was with the mighty Himalayan ranges, where I came across the might and light of these ranges. It went from being brown to green to snow white and growing from being small to big, to huge and finally to ridiculously humongous!

One often, whilst looking out of a window of a moving car, ends up playing PEEKABOO with these mountains which tend to hide behind either the trees or one another.  

I going deeper and higher in these ranges was directly proportional to the falling of temperature way below zero degrees and to the increase in number of layers of sweaters I got myself in.

As we travel and advance towards the early traces of snow or the snow advances towards us and that the FIRST glimpse of the snow that can be actually touched and felt and not just admired for lying on the top of the peaks is beyond words. The chills of mixed emotion that set into motion with the chilly breeze kissing your face and a ball of snow in palms for your pal to take will definitely make one forget one's own wedding.

And if fate has it, one would be fortunate enough to dance under a snowfall letting those soft, smooth, sliver of ice glide through or stay. The first glimpse is no less than the first love; following the same excitement for both and making a permanent room in your mind palace.

The most enthralling and delightful experience of all is to see the advancing snow. It is always bliss when seeking for snow, travelling in a car, going up-hill to finally see it around you, spattered, on the branches and leaves of the trees, on the sides of the road, on the roofs of houses, shops; gradually, with the gaining altitude the concentration of the snow increases from appearing as white-speckles to growing into a full white meadow. The green and the brown patches being filled with white, soft snow reversing the whole mechanism with now just a few green or brown speckles on a sheet of white.

Apart from this transition of brown-green-white and warm-cold, it’s a feeling of victory and achievement. As it is not every day that one can break one’s mundane work and kiss the ecstasy of vacationing.

It’s a tête-à-tête with nature that will last forever.