A superman in India

by Yasheera Rampersadh (South Africa)

Making a local connection India

It was a freezing, rainy morning at Kedarnath, some 3962 metres above sea level in the Himalaya mountains in north India. According to the itinerary it would take about six hours to trek down the mountain. I decided to pay for a donkey to go down with me in case I got tired or I couldn't manage anymore. Some of my friends had decided to do the same. Unfortunately for me, I chose a donkey that wouldn't listen and had a mind of its own. The pathway down was wet, we had to pass through rivers and waterfalls and puddles of rainwater. Kitted out in about four layers of clothes, I mounted the donkey, whose keeper, Sonu, promised he would stay right beside to make sure all would be well. Sonu though had another donkey that he needed to take care of as well. Right at the start, my donkey followed the other wherever it went, including when it decided to venture inches away from the edge of the mountain with no railings to hold a fall. In the little hindi that I knew I screamed and shouted at Sonu to get me off and allow me trek down on my own two feet. Sonu wouldn't allow it. He brought the animals back onto the path and continued. I, of course, could not get off it without help and was stranded on the back of it for as long as Sonu decided to keep me there. Sonu, I said, 'kya yaar, mujhe neeche uthro, paise to dhenge'. This is not perfect hindi but he understood that I had asked to come down and that I would still pay the full amount. No, he said and carried on walking. The donkey was slipping on the wet floor and under little waterfalls and bent so low when it had to climb down steps that I was almost in tears. To top it all off, we had only so far moved about a kilometre. The pathway was narrow and the donkey was unsteady. I was in a different country far away from my family and all I could think about was that I could not fall off the edge of this mighty, beautiful mountain and disappear forever into the River Ganges raging below us. It was raining and her waters looked terrifying. I tried speaking to Sonu again. He continued to keep me on the donkey. I calmed down a little for my own sanity and got a closer look at him. This man walked up and down the mountain every day at least twice a day for a living. He wore nothing but jeans, a thin jacket and sandals. He trekked that mountain everyday with sandals!! The weather was no barrier for him. I felt terrible for being such a weakling but I still refused to fall to my death so early in life and so far away from home. I calmed down only enough to chat with Sonu and make him trust me a little. As soon as the donkey stopped to eat, I asked Sonu to get me off again. 'Arre yaar, thum tho ek numbar ka drama queen hai,' he shouted as he gently let me climb off the back of his beloved donkey. In case you didn't understand that, he told me that I was a first class drama queen. Sonu then put my bags over the donkey and continued to walk down the mountain with me and my friends. After a while he forgot about the fact that I was a wasted trip for him. He spoke about his family and asked about South Africa. He even stopped to buy me some food and roadside chai. At the bottom of the mountain, exhausted from the hours long trek down, he handed me my bags. I paid him his money and he walked to his next clients. He was going to take them up the mountain. I looked at the back of this small man in absolute wonder. I was fatigued. My legs were about to give in. I ordered a cab to drive me to the hotel a few kilometres away and this man was about to start the climb back up the mountain again. I learnt that day, that you don't need to be muscular to be fit and that you are only as strong as your mind is. I learnt that day that no matter how hard some people have to work for a living, they try to do it honestly even if a shortcut is presented to them. I mean Sonu could have taken my money and gone back up after just one kilometre down, but he refused to abandon me no matter how big of a drama queen I was.