യാത്ര

അടുത്തറിയുന്ന ഒരു സുഹൃത്തിന്‍റെ ഡയറിക്കുറിപ്പിലൂടെയൊരു യാത്ര

സമര്‍പ്പണം ഇയാനും പേളിനും

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Life is about experience, learning and seeing things in right perspective…
We live through many precious moments in life which occupy special place in our heart..

Among them, some we scribble,
some we lose,
some we share and
some remain within unsaid…

ivan & pearl




It was a summer afternoon, we were at the beach and It started over there…
She insisted to travel to the mountain top…and wanted to lie down on wet grass to watch the clouds , birds and butterflies….

Beach was crowded, noisy, and did not have greenery anywhere… She is almost made up her mind to travel to the mountain top…

I joined her, stating I would be best companion she can bet on her journey to salvation…She understood the sarcasm and gave me a frowned look.




We reached the base camp next day morning, waited to see if any others (crazy like us) joining us… And there were none..

She was in her crème linen trousers, sleeveless top and a cap to complete her style of dressing . I was wearing jeans, sweat shirt and a cap. We both had rack sack on our back, camera and a pair of binoculars to complete the list.

She had done some trekking earlier but I had not. Hence, we decided to use road to reach to the top of mountain.




We decided to take the easy route to hilltop. We could not see anyone on the road, and we were the lone walkers…

She quipped: “Its wonderful to be with you alone in this valley…”
I smiled … and we continued to walk.

I saw monkey orchids and was taking photograph…
I did not realise the fact that she was calling me…for a minute I was engrossed taking picture of wild orchid . When I joined her , she said.

“I really don’t know when have you got the affinity towards these little things. Few minutes here made a lot of difference in you..”

I gave a wry smile…



I started to wonder, she was right…I did not have any interest in framing these little things. How come she noticed the change in me…before I could realise it. I glanced at her, she was walking….looking around, enjoying the greenery.

I reckoned her saying:

“I know you better than you ever know about yourself. Don’t ask me how. And at the same time, you will take your lifetime to understand me. And I have no worries on that, but often it hurts when you neglect me”

Her footsteps stopped all of a sudden. My mind returned back to the valley…




She pulled me aside to show the greenary on side…
It was a great scene…lush green fields and bright blue sky…with beautiful clouds …I knew she liked clouds…Whenever she get a chance to see them, She made sure that I see as well. And I remember her saying…

“ Beauty cannot be enjoyed alone, it needs to be shared. I love clouds, but I love sharing my happiness with you every time. But I don’t know if its of any interest to you.…”

Noise of the camera brought me back from my thoughts. I looked at her, she seems to be enjoying what she was doing.




We reached near a place where sky made reflections. She framed clouds along with greenery…I was watching her closely….

She was really happy….I thought, I have not seen her as happy ever. I went up to her and asked….

“ What is there in this empty, green surroundings and in the blue sky...” She smiled

And said. "You never understand that in your lifetime… you need to learn how to appreciate beauty.”




We could feel that we were reaching the hilltop as we passed through the bright green meadow and houses on valley. It was a nice scene, which her camera did not leave. She smiled back, and I nodded in appreciation.

She said: “My mind says, you will turn out to be a nature lover before we end the trip.”

I Said: “ Well, I love every minute I spent with you . Backdrops never used to matter in most of the occasions. But now, I feel there is a lot more closeness in you and me… may be it’s the common interests of nature….”

She laughed…very loud…

We continued to walk




We looked down to see the meadow and the grazing cattle…
She was saying …" what happened to the clouds all of a sudden, where did it all go ?”

I said, “ we are just looking on one side, look at the other side…it is still full of clouds, this is human tendency…we do not look at things where it is available, but we wanted it to be available where it is not….”

She chuckled: “Monk in you started talking…well I need to watch my words..”

I laughed and pinched her….





We could see cliffs much more closer, clouds are some what nearer to us…
Cold breeze started greeting us and we stopped to rest in the meadow near by.
She tried to lie down on grass, which was full of dew.

I said to myself, this is where she wanted to come….wet grass, blue sky, enough clouds, birds and butterflies….

I watched her, she was looking to the sky…lying on her back and one leg folded up.

As I was removing my rack sack, she asked "don’t you feel happy at this lonely place alone with me…and there is nothing here except sky, grass and us…"

I laughed and kissed her on forehead…




I noticed the grass around, there are flowers and tiny little butterflies and moth…with enormous beauty on their wings…

She started teasing me….

“ I guess there is something in the wind, changes you so dramatically….you are so sensitive now… and you care about these little butterflies…”

I looked her back and said.

I enjoy being here with you no matter what I am doing. And also I love those things which were not having any value in my life…I realised it over here…how beautiful god’s creations are ! ”

She said: “Hey, don’t be serious….I was joking..”




I said :
“ These little flowers and flies never influenced my mind as it does now ..It’s a revelation for me…I appreciate god’s power and creativity….
I am so fascinated about beautiful things around me….”

She got up from where she was lying. Came near to me, sat on my lap with both legs stretched through my hands. She faced towards me and her body pressed on mine.

She said:

“I have never loved anyone like you in my whole life. There is something special in you keep drawing me towards you…It may be your sincere nature, simplicity understanding…now common interests….I thank you for coming with me…”

Her lips reached mine ...



We were lying there on the grass and watching the clouds on horizon…Fog started covering mountain tops as the rain clouds appeared all of a sudden…Probably we would not have noticed these changes earlier, as we were in our own world..




Drizzling started , I showed her the picture of a moth I took…

She said: “I did not know that you could take good pictures…wow….this a great piece of work…I wont trouble hereafter when you try to frame any thing…I swear.. ”

I laughed and patted on her cheek.



Sun started playing hide and seek. And we could see the sunlight appears in some parts of the valley through the clouds, keeping other parts in dark.
She said:

“Light and dark sides of the valley represents our lives. Happiness and sadness co-exist at times. We need to look for lighter side when we are in pain. Often we fail to do so. When we are above the valley, we can see things clearly…But in life we do not attempt to see from a higher perspective…”

Valley looked so nice from top of the hill as we started to see rain drops falling on us…slowly…and vigorously…..We got drenched…she looked cute in her drenched clothes…I looked in her eyes…She was taken aback for a while…

I held her close from behind…my head is on her shoulder and hands on her sides…I could feel her heart beat…she turned her head side ways and smiled




We climbed more steep to reach the top…Heavy wind carried chillness more than our wet bodies could handle. we took out jumpers from rack sack..

She dried my hair, as I helped to dry her hair….she started shivering….I warmed her palms by rubbing them, helped her to change and wear new a pair of jeans….we took a sip of whiskey to beat the cold…I held her closely to make her body warm…

She was smiling…I looked at her eyes…
She said: “I thought, my heart got fast beats ..but yours like a motor car.”
We both laughed




Rain stopped, sun light appeared on the mountain slopes…

Valley became brighter once again…

She said:
“Nature reflects your mood most of the time,
it cries with you when you are in pain,
It leaps in joy when you are happy.”



As we stood there on the peak, we could see group of tourists climbing us ….
Soon we left the peak, started going down the slope…

She said:

" When we watch from top, we appreciate the vastness of earth … As human how small are we compared to the mother nature… We miss this view always in our life and often see things out of perspective. And our agonies start soon after. We end up making incorrect decisions and the life will never be the same again …
But we do not realise the fact that our vision need to be broader…"

I said :

"Human learn from mistakes, some mistakes are made deliberately though. Because he or she wanted things in that way. Perspective and vision are too broad for common man.. He or she tends to forget this in the first place."




Sun started its journey back home..
Clouds were reflective of sun’s pangs of love….
We both stared at each other for a while…
She asked me to sing a song for her…

I could not remember any song top of my head.…
But managed to hum a ghazal…." kuch door hamare saathe chalo.."
Which she used to sing quite often..



She joined me …to sing
She was holding me close, one hand around my back…
I held her tightly to me and we were walking down the slopes…
She was leaning on me…her fingers were cold…

We searched for twigs and leaves to make campfire…

She helped me to crush bushy end of spruce twigs, shred birch, scrunch up paper and light fire… we poured whiskey on dry leaves and twigs to catch fire easily. In a few minutes, we had cosy bonfire to warm ourselves.

Soon it became dark..
We had fixed our tent by then.
Sleeping bags were spread out….
We were lying down side by side …
Looked up on the sky through the tent window…..
Hands were going through the slopes and steeps…
We were entering to our new world…..
We stop here !

ivan.pearl