By telling us your country of residence we are able to provide you with the most relevant travel insurance information.
Please note that not all content is translated or available to residents of all countries. Contact us for full details.
Shares
How can you sum up a person's life? Can we measure it by the stories a person has lived throughout their life? I guess so. However, it is difficult to identify a good story. I would say that a story of love and faith with my loved ones is a good story for me. Others' can have a different scale to msure theirs. Rebecca Solnit says, "The search of meaning is in how you live your life but also in how you describe it." The way we describe our story is the way people are going to remember it. As soon as I reached Shimla, I started inquiring about Shrikhand Kailash Peak. Some people told me their own stories of how fascinating it was to be there. Some told me to return and come back later when trek opens in the month of July. Usually, I like to do solo treks but it was a possibility that I may get lost on the way since no one was going to this trek in May End, so thought it would be better if I can find a local who can guide me in this madness. Once I reached the base camp, Jaon village, I asked few locals but they did not agree to accompany me. Deep down I wanted to do this with someone or alone, I moved ahead and reached to Singhad after 3Km of easy hiking. This was going to be the last village where I would be seeing humans if I move ahead. I found an Old man sitting beside his home. Being in place like this before, I knew how I had to start the conversation. I shouted ‘Jai Shankar’ and he reverted with ‘Jai Bhole’. Then, he asked enthusiastically whether I am going to ‘Shrikhand’ and that is how every conversation with other people also started on my way to Shrikhand. He was a bit concerned when I told him that I am planning to go alone. I took out a cigarette and asked for matchbox. He, then, lit a beedi for himself and gave me matchbox. I took a leap of faith in universe and moved forward. I stopped at waterfall to fill my water supply and this is where I met an amazing person, Panku Bhai. He seems to be of my age or maybe younger. He was bathing with children and we interacted. This was when he said that he would like to accompany me as he might have sensed that I would get lost into woods or I was dumb enough to continue whatsoever. I had the most beautiful night in my entire life when I trekked that night. Some things cannot be explained the way it actually felt. We pushed ourselves further to reach the Top. We camped at Thachung around 2AM. In morning around 6 AM, we moved forward to reach kali Ghat from where we had a beautiful view of Shrikhand Kailash. It was like a dream come true moment for me. Even when I realized that I would not be able to go further, I promised to myself that I would come again when weather settles. While we were coming back, Panku Bhai said to me that he knew all along that we would not be reaching the Peak but he wanted me to see it for myself as if he knew how much it meant to me. People like me want to see themselves as the Hero of their own story who dreams of conquering the mountains. However, there are people like Panku Bhai, who play the role of supporting actors of several stories where they help other characters to achieve their dreams. With completion of their dreams, they think that they have served their purpose in the world. Among all the other things, Panku Bhai’s stories taught me a lot. And, this experience became a good story because of him. To answer my earlier question ‘How can you sum up a person's life?’ I would like to repeat what Morgan Freeman says in the movie, 'The Bucket list' , "You measure yourself by the people who measured themselves by you."