The Unfortunate Reality Of Time
Over the last few days I have had a lot of time to reflect upon various aspects of life, whether mine or in general. The questions posed by morality of humans, the point of it all, love, friendship and discipline were certain topics often running across my mind during this period. A walk is supposed to help clear your head, and what better a walk than a trek that went on for five days, in the Himalayas.
The last time I had done a trek, it was truly to connect with myself, to find answers deep within to questions that I refused to give enough thought to, buried deep below distractions of daily life. This trek however, I didn't have as many questions to myself, yet, time to think, a forceful disconnect from the rest of the world, and a refreshing change in environment paved the way to a lot of new thoughts. With the kind permission from the mountain and weather Gods, as I walked on the mountains with friends and strangers (who would later become great friends too), I was surrounded by the surreal sights of terrifying, yet terrific mountains, some of the prettiest sunsets and sunrises, and stories from different walks of life. As we laughed over silly jokes and cried over our struggles, a magical bond between people was created in the mountains, over hot tea and long walks. I went with four friends, but returned with about two dozen, of different ages and experiences.
During this trip, I created a bunch of new memories, which included experiencing my first snowfall, trekking in dangerous weather, a spontaneous trip to the holy town of Badrinath, and walking down the narrow yet lively and colorful streets of Rishikesh to name a few. Somewhere during the last few hours of my trip, deep down it struck me how little time we have on this planet, and how important these memories were to me. While I haven't really felt sad recently, it was the happiest I had felt in a while, being with the people I love and creating memories to cherish forever. The unfortunate truth about memories and time is that they fade. The true feeling about a particular experience starts to slip with time, and back in our mundane routine life we remember it with pictures and conversations, that make an attempt to recreate the same feelings. We start to forget how we really felt in the moment, and move on with life, going on to create other memories.
I will never be as young as I am today, and deep down I think it scares me that I am running into an unknown timeline. Part of me wants to try to hang on to the feelings I felt last week, for as long as I can, the thrill of being within the mountains, the romantic feeling a lively town gives, and the joy of getting to know new people, perhaps which is why I am writing this, to make sure future me does not forget. If anything, my desire to travel from this trip has heightened, to meet more people, hear and create exciting stories, understand more about cultures, and spend time with the people I love.
When I write, I usually don't struggle with concluding a blog. I usually have thoughts I want to get off my head, or feelings I want to express, and while a bit of both is true here, I can't find a suitable conclusion, and so I'll conclude it with a line from the book that became the reason this blog came to life.
"Strangers," the Blue Man said, "are just family you have yet to come to know." - The Five People You Meet In Heaven, Mitch Albom
To the rest of us reading this, this is a reminder that traveling really does add new perspective to life, and if you have the opportunity and means, you should certainly do it. We do not know the time we have here, but we can only make best of it by creating the memories we want to remember.