The truth about good things

We all want good things to happen to us, whatever those might be -- a job we want, approval for a trip with friends, windfall gains from random lotteries, a great offer to buy a house or a car or anything else. We want all these things despite everything, even despite the fact that we don't want to work hard for them. Giving up is easy, taking alternatives is easy, sitting back and waiting does the job just as well. We wish and wish for good things but we are also always riddled with doubts and what-ifs. If there's something I've learned about good things, it's this:

1. Good things come to those who wait

There's no better way to get and enjoy the good things in life than to wait for it. Patience pays is a popular phrase. (Gee, that rhymes!) I believe there is a time and moment for everything, even when we absolutely hate not getting things just when we want them. There's a whole system of things created by nature (or God) and, perhaps you won't realize it but, what you receive after a long wait is always worth it. It's better for you. Therefore, if you feel restless about not getting the job you want (like I have been feeling since months, hence, lack of posts here), all you have to do is to close your eyes, breathe deeply, feel grateful for what you have, look at its positives, and keep striving to do your best. Never lose hope. Good things come in good time. 

2. Good things are related to 'time'

Carrying on the last point, good things usually come at just the right time. They may take ages or come sooner than expected; whatever is happening right now is the perfect thing for the present time. You are learning to not only control your anger/irritability issues while not getting your dream job, but also realizing the realities of life and how to deal with those. While you are always hopeful that your dream life is possible, you will realize that it takes a great deal of bravery and relentless work to get it. Good things will come in due course, though being optimistic about it will hasten things, so stay positive!

3. Good things cannot be stolen

When they've come to you, nothing in the world can take them away, except time. I know some people who refrain from sharing good news, perhaps imagining that someone will steal it from them! My dears, that is just not possible. Good things can only be shared and multiplied, not divided. If you have a certain advantage, you have it. Period. Don't be scared of having that taken away from you. Unless it is an Apple device you carelessly leave lying around. 

4. Good things might come in disguise...

... so that you don't even realize that what is happening is a good (or great) thing! They're not always obvious, apparent or even feel goody; they sometimes come nicely wrapped in layers of packaging, but you will realize them when they do their work (that is, help you get something great!). Maybe not getting through one of the big companies was actually a good thing and not the end of the world as you saw it (OK, I should stop making indirect references to myself). But really, things, even though they may not seem like good things, sometimes are actually good. 

5. Good things can happen suddenly!

Sometimes you receive a surprise in the form of something amazing that's happened to you when you were least expecting it. These are the ones that make you believe in miracles! :D

Are you wondering why I wrote this post? Did you notice how I haven't posted anything for such a long time? (If not, bleh. If yes, know that it is your love and interest that I really appreciate ^_^ Thank you!)

Anyway, the answer is that I had been facing one of the worst possible times (even though you might think I made it worse by overthinking, but I really couldn't help it). It was just emotionally draining as I was filled with insecurity and uncertainty of the highest order: the kind where nothing anyone says seems to make you feel optimistic unless some 'good thing' happens. Even reading did not appeal to me, so you can guess how weird it made me feel. I am thankful to family and those friends who supported me despite my apparent lack of regard for their words, who believed in me when I didn't. 

Thankfully, patience (even though it was forced and suffocating) finally paid off! The good things began pouring in one by one, and I am grateful to everyone, including God, who made it happen. First, I went on an all-girls' trip with my college friends, a first for all of us! The mere idea of it was exciting, as none of us had travelled without an elder person or a large group. A few days before the scheduled trip, I faced a major setback in the form of a rejection letter, and it left me numb and sad, especially as I was expecting an acceptance (so much so that I'd even given the good news to people!) It's weird, but I was the only one who spent the entire trip without feeling pissed off at anyone or anything! Sure, we enjoyed a lot, but I realized that I had, finally, matured. ^_^ 

There were four of us. We had planned a three-day trip to Mussoorie, the lovely hill station above Dehradun. I had only been there once, many years ago, when I was an awkward teenager and all I remembered about the trip was killing exotic insects in the summer house we were staying in, getting bitten by a Scorpion plant, walking a steep slope to get water, and lots of stomach cramps. This time it was as if I'd never been there before! We checked in a heritage hotel where we got a free upgrade to the deluxe quarter!! We spent our two days exploring the Mall Road right above the hotel, eating from popular eateries, dancing and gossiping and playing cards in the comfortable room, and of course, clicking awesomesauce pictures.

Passing through low clouds :D

Beautiful flowers overlooking the Dehradun valley

Look at the view *_*

The hotel overlooked Dehradun valley and the views were spectacular. The pleasantly cold weather (the November in Delhi kind) was a big plus in keeping us upbeat. Decidedly, the best part of the trip for me was getting a chance to meet the fabled writer of the hills, Mr Ruskin Bond!! Oh God, it was one of the best things I've experienced, even though I totally sucked at interacting with him. I asked no smart questions that I usually do with authors (probably because I was still in that bad phase mode, but still!!), only smiled and spoke a few words in greeting and got my copies signed. Ruskin Bond is precisely how I'd heard he is. 

LOOK WHO MET RUSKIN BOND!! *_*

A jovial-looking man of eighty, he arrived at Cambridge Book Depot a little after 3.30 PM on Saturday, smiling at everyone he passed. There was a long line of people waiting to see him, the best of whom were little children reciting poems to their parents for practice. I got really lucky when he arrived just as I was making payment for a book, and standing right next to his seat. He greeted everyone as he entered the small shop, including me (YAY!), and sat down, commenting on the line of people waiting to see him. I've met some authors at book signings, and found all of them quite humble and sweet. Mr Bond was the best of all! He accepted all forms of gifts (including poems and stories written by kids), and joked and talked with all his fans as they stepped up to meet him one by one. If you've read his books, you'd know the kind of person he would be, and when you see the soft and kind-looking face, all you feel like doing is smiling and making a witty joke (which, most probably, would not occur to you at that moment). One of my great friends, P, took a great picture of me with Mr Ruskin Bond, and I am forever grateful to her for gifting me this proof. I also apologize for not taking as great a picture of her as she did for me. 

The trip was a success. We'll plan another one soon! ;) The next good thing that seems like a disguise was a job offer from a place I wasn't much preferring, but talking to a few people cleared my head and now I feel great about it. I have an opportunity to work for my dreams, and if it seems difficult, that's all the better, as I would be motivated to work even harder. A couple more things on the family front turned awesome, and I am glad about it all. I only hope that the good thing in disguise really becomes good and the positives outweigh the negatives. 

A big YAY to new beginnings, everyday happiness, love in the form of friends and family, and feeling well enough to write a blog post! I've realized that I'm one of those people who write more and better when they're happy rather than when they're sad. Goodness, I just cannot write a word when I'm sad. (So if you see that I haven't posted for a long while, be good and ask me if all's well!)

Until next time! 

Love and best wishes

Born to Climb...

*Fiction*

I rolled down the window and half poked my head out, immediately feeling the sharp whip of cold air, making my hair fly out, all over the place. I involuntarily make a gasp and reduce my eyes to tiny slits when I hear that smug voice complaining, ‘Dad, she’s doing it again!’ I pull back in and give a deathly stare to that whiner of a brother. I saw dad smiling knowingly. I smiled too, he was the one who knew what it was all about! It wasn’t as if dad already didn’t know, I was right behind the driver’s seat in the car that was taking me to the place I’d been dreaming about since years!

I don’t know when exactly I decided to do mountain climbing. I don’t even know exactly when I started liking the idea, it just came and then stayed and grew until I went crazy over just the thought of it, read books and stories about mountain expeditions and started working out to get fit enough to not get rejected on health basis. I just got on a what-do-you-call-it, a “high”, thinking and imagining being on the mountains, first just because of the beauty, then I saw myself in proper gear, doing the hard stuff, using a climber’s language and terms! It wasn’t as if I’d been to the mountains many times before. It was just the opposite, rather. Just twice and I didn’t even ‘feel’ that feeling even until August last year when I was on a trip to Shimla. I just enjoyed the freshness and the beauty of the place, nothing more, nothing less.

But now was the time! I couldn’t stop grinning all the way to Uttarkashi, all the way to “the” institute with young girls and boys, super enthusiastic in their greetings, their excitement so contagious, I had a hard time breathing normally. The place was huge and just so... green? I never had seen so many greens together, with solid brown rows of uneven mountains in the background. There were three separate wings, a small one-storey building serving as the library and around 25 small cabins interspersed over the ground! Cabins! Just the kind of thing I'd love! 

“I wish I could pretend to be younger and stay here in this amazing place!” whispered dad, who I knew would have loved it as much as I would, but he was way beyond the age limit.

Xavi looked around with an expression of wonder and curiosity. “Are you sure you wouldn’t freak out and call us at 3am tomorrow and beg us to take you back home? Think about it, you’d be alone. These are all strangers. You don’t know one single person here.” As I gave him an exasperated look, he continued in a surprised tone, “I don’t just get how you act so brave! You want to do all kinds of scary adventure sports, you love horror stories, you’re willing to get lost in these huge mountains with total strangers, miles away from home, you’ll be living in camps, carrying tons of weight and stuff, and you still don’t get nervous? You don’t act like a girl and it’s scary!” He turned his irritated expression to dad to see if he agreed, who in turn, hugged me close.

Dad spoke in my ear so Xavi wouldn’t hear. “You know you’d love it. It’s an altogether different world. It’d be just you, your individuality, your beliefs, and all that love in you that will be sent out to these wonders around you. When you climb, it’d be you and the rocks, the magic will make you keep moving until you reach your destination. You’d feel no fear, no what-if, no scary propositions. Promise me, you’d just live in the here and the now. Don’t think about us, we’d be fine and happy knowing you’re enjoying here.” I again had that feeling of ecstasy just listening to his words. My vision blurred and I didn’t know if the tears were because of the happiness or because of the fact that I’d be seeing them again only after a month! I had never been anywhere without them. I guess it was a mix of both.

It was time. They had helped me register, followed by the verifications and check-in. I hugged them both, giving dad an extra hug for Mom, who stayed back home to overlook the minor construction work we were getting done. Xavi still looked dubious and I gave him my most-cheerful smile, making a last attempt to make him get it. I don’t think it worked, for he seemed to be even more doubtful than before.  I waved them goodbye, watching Xavi sticking his head out in the manner in which I had done. They gradually became a small golden spec that soon disappeared in the wisps of white smog, leaving me on my own, a different individual already, ready to take on the dream.

***

My roommate was a lean, wheat-complexioned girl who wore a perpetual smile and eyes round with excitement. “Hi, I’m Aamya” she said sticking out her hand with clearly bitten nails and shaking mine with enthusiasm. I was sure we’d be great buddies soon, as I get along well with people who’re just like me. Bitten nails, loose track pants and a casual tee paired with sneakers, mmm.. quite a lot like me.

***

5 days later

Mr. Raghuvan Veer (or RV, as we called him unoffically) came marching from his office door out into the base field where our group of 50 people stood waiting for our first ever outdoor climb. The ‘real ’one, we called it. We had been learning a lot about mountains, climbing expeditions, the methods, gear, people who’ve made history and all super exciting stuff, only that it had been theory. We’d be on the field in just a few more moments and the enthusiasm was so much there, I could swear I was able to just see it around everyone as a full body halo, just light blue in color. As RV ran an instruction to get organized as planned, we shuffled amongst us and I found myself in the second of three rows, with Aamya right behind me.

The session started and God! It was so much fun! We were bundled up with ropes and a harness, helmets secure, and instructed to work up on the fake rock wall, as high as we could go without the danger of a fall. Aamya and I had made a silent pledge last night that we’d be the ones to scale it the highest. Now as I looked at her squinting at the top, judging the height, I knew we could do it. We learned the different kinds of gear for different cracks and rocks for about an hour, before we were told to ‘let go and just climb’! Even though it was fake rock, gaining height gradually was deeply satisfying. Of course we fulfilled our pledge, the Law of Inevitability at its best.

***

10 days later

RV smiled and I couldn’t help grinning too, just like the other 49 who I bet, were already on that wonderful “high” I felt all the time in this place. From a book I had borrowed from the institute’s library, I read about this great feeling. It wasn’t just me, I had come to realize. All those amazing guys who’ve ‘been there, done that’ described it perfectly, ‘It’s pure ecstasy. You don’t believe in all the world there can be a feeling better than this. Your heart beats out loud, but it’s at peace. You are just ‘you’ and you can stay like that as long as you want. When you feel the rock under your hands and feet, you connect.’

This ‘connect’ thing seemed to be the only part of those lines that I couldn’t really identify with yet. I wanted to just rush out and start with the climb. It looked insanely beautiful, behind RV, the vast expanse and the majestic look. We’d be out there for 5 days at a stretch. Awesomely brilliant, I thought as we started up the slope in our planned formation.

It was just after lunch that we reached the real part. The trek had been smooth till now, a gradual slope. Now we faced a boulder the size of a multi storey building with many storeys in height and 100 times that in width, a big deal for us first-timers. As I fixed my gear on my backpack, I watched the others getting ready. Aadil and Maya, a couple in their early 30s seemed to be the most excited as they helped each other set up their gear. Their laughter ringed out around, causing others to be bold enough to laugh out loud too, releasing any sort of anxiety we might have had. I returned their thumbs up sign and waited for Aamya to check and recheck everything. “You got the clips?” she asked and I shook my bag in response, which jingled with the sounds of the clips. She smiled, “It’s going to be ah-mayzing! I just know. I can feel it. Can you?” I just adored this girl, she seemed to know the right kind of things to say at the right time and just when I needed them.

“Yes, I feel it too.” I say.

***

I finally came to understand what those guys meant when they said they could ‘connect’. It was purely, magic. You know, people should definitely encourage kids to read about magic. It’s real, it’s there and we need to keep our minds free enough from the usual clutter we’re surrounded with, to understand what the world is all about, how magic works, what life is all about. I could feel it in the rocks, hard, smooth, soft, damp, that sweet scent, the sense of wonder when you fit the right piece of gear at the right place. There was just me, my mind, my soul intertwined with that of the mountains, unaware of my body. It was just the climb and the rock and the peace about it all that mattered. I was a born climber, I knew it and here I was, living it up, making it true. Proof to the world that wishes do come true, that the greatest thing one can do is to connect with one’s own self, to achieve a sense of spirituality so deep it makes you forget about your physical presence and takes you to a plane you couldn’t have ever imagined.

I felt the edge first with my right hand fingers. Ecstatic, I clipped in the final gear piece in place and used it as a support to heave myself up. My right leg went first, followed by the rest of me. Yeah, I was very well aware of my physical presence now, not to forget the scars running in my right arm, but it was pure joy as I yelled an achiever's victory. I heard celebratory shouts from below, but I was again distracted by the scenes in front of my eyes. Those brown mountains I first saw from a distance was where I stood now, the camp site too far for me to make out more than tiny white dots. The wind was cool, not icy and I felt a slight shiver run through me, more from excitement and the zest of achievement. Here I was, miles away from the materialistic clutter, a real, living being in pure essence, united by my being and.... what is that? Uh.. I forgot, I'm not the only one. Aamya was scrambling up the top and I bent down to help her. "That was one hell of a climb, but I just loved it!" she exclaimed and then turned silent as we stood up and she saw all around. She spoke softly, as if the loud voices would disturb the peace of the place, "It's beautiful, no? I could stay here for ever and ever."

"Yeah" I said and smiled. "And it's only just the beginning." It took one more second to again get into that climber's high. It was too frequent and seemed to be the dominant feeling here. Well, that's the magic of the place, no?

The End

***

Aah! Now I’m feeling like myself again. This was fun. I mean, I actually had to work today, which was supposedly the only Saturday we got off in this semester (which ended yesterday, by the way. Say yay!). Obviously it made me even grouchier than I usually am. I still have a bit more to do, but I had to write this down. You know how it is, work and stuff can’t stop me from doing what I like! Anyway, I’m not sure how it’ll look like to you, all that I’ve written. I’m actually not qualified enough to write so much about something I’ve never experienced. But I still felt like it, based on how I imagined it could be, how it would feel like. If you know me well, you’d know I’d love to do this kind of mountaineering sometime and I hope I do. And when it does, I really wish it turns out to be even greater than how I expected it to be!

PS- This was also inspired by the book ‘Jump’ by Elisa Carbone that I’m reading currently. It’s about teenagers who’re in absolute love with climbing and about their adventure. I’m loving this book. The terms I used (including ‘gear’, ‘harness’, etc) have been used in this book and that’s how I came to know them! Also, this is sort of rock climbing, not mountain climbing. I fused them both!

PPS- I know the pictures aren't exactly related to climbing, but I wanted to include self-clicked ones only!