A moment from a previous trek...

Photo credit: Theerthak Rajashekar

It wasn't long before. 

It was that night. That night, the one during which a memoir was made. No, let me rephrase, "A Moment was etched".

Lying on our backs. Staring at the starry night sky. A dark, beautiful, clear sky. One of those skies where the more you look, the more you find. To call it beautiful would be an understatement. It was mystical. It was magical. It was, as they call it, one of those things which stays with you forever.

The night was windy. We had struggled quite hard to pitch in our tents. And then, we had prepared maggie as our dinner. There was no camp fire. We were there, lying down on a tarpaulin, randomly speaking. The winds were threatening to blow our tents apart. Despite the worry, there was a sense of peace. A sense of calmness. 

Emptiness. Vastness.

It was then that someone decided to play some songs on his mobile. The output was low. The songs started. One after the other. Each song being appreciated, criticized,  loved, hated. Then came along the song which takes me back to the night every time I hear it. Maula from Jism 2.

The song started to blurt out of the mobile. The group joined in. Each singing along. Each lost in the song. Each lost in their own worlds. A few staring at the sky. A few straight ahead at the struggling tents.

A bunch of people. Oblivious to the world. Happy in the moment. Singing the chorus. Swaying to the notes.

No it wasn't the song. It was the feel. It was about the bliss which came along with music. The happiness which came with the simplicity of enjoying the moment as it were. It wasn't about who was with you. It was about you being with them. It was about the naked hills which lay in front of us. The mighty winds which scared us. The tiny little stars which smiled at us. The cloudless sky which stretched to eternity. The slight chill which hung on to our skins.
More than anything else, it was about us.

That night, lying on my back, I saw the third falling star of my life. This one was a big bright one. The brightest I've ever seen...
And the next morning, a sunrise. One of the most soothing ones of my life.

Place: Kodachadri
Date: December, the 22nd. 2012. A day after the world was supposed to end.