Rules change

  • A year ago, it was a different world altogether
  • Different social etiquette
  • Different rules
  • Different feelings
  • But some things help from that world
  • I am reproducing below something I had written a year ago
  • "I remember reading Leo Tolstoy's novel "How much land does a man need?"
    We had a part of it as a lesson in school .
    And I remembered it again as I reached the peak of a Himalayan mountain 60 km from Gangotri at 12100 feet .
    We had been trekking 4 days to reach the peak.
    Living in tents.
    Eating rice and dal.
    Using dry toilets.
    Drinking water from the spring.
    Carrying our backpacks with our worldly possessions.
    One water bottle.
    A bowl to eat from.
    Two shirts.
    Two trousers.
    It looked difficult.
    Legs straining to climb.
    Back aching with the load.
    Lungs panting for air.
    But, I found that I had
    A song in the heart,
    My eyes were smiling.
    And
    As we reached the peak, we burst into the national anthem.
    Our eyes get moist.
    A lump forms in the throat.
    Indeed
    Four days of trek made me realize how little we can live on."
  •  The trek:
  •  I don't know whether we would be ever be able to trek again in the same manner
  • Maybe we could, but maybe the rules could change
  • We shared tents with strangers, 3 in each tiny tent in our sleeping bags
  • We dined together in one big tent just sufficient to accommodate all of us
  • The dining tent:
  • Suddenly we are in a different world now and all the things we took for granted, no longer can!
  • Hotel and restaurant rules and ethics may also change
  • Our friends group will no longer meet in hotel cuddled around a table

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