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What unpleasant travel experiences have taught me: In the Himalayas, there's a famous saying, that goes "Mumbai ka fashion aur Pahadon ka mausam pal mein badal jata hai" (Mumbai's fashion and the weather in these mountains change in a split second). My mind hadn't accepted the larger realities associated with this, until the second day of my second trek in the mighty Himalayas, The Kedarkantha Trek in Uttarakhand. While Day 1 was a feast for my eyes, Day 2 posed quite a challenge. From a bright, sunny morning to a gloomy afternoon, from clear blue sky to a hazy grey sky, from light snowfall to an unforeseen blizzard, from excitement about the summit climb on the following day to feeling disheartened as the summit hopes got bleaker with every step, my team had seen it all in within a couple of hours. To make things worse, we were told to descend to a safer ground, just 30 minutes after reaching the summit base camp because of the deteriorating weather. I felt dejected. I chose to stay back in my tent even when the Trek Leader called the entire team for a briefing about the descent. I thought that by getting out of the tent, I'd accept the reality which I wish hadn't occurred. So I sat inside that 210x210 sq.cm tent, using it as a shield against the world outside, but little did I know back then that it was actually my mind which was the true barrier between the comforting tent(read lies) and the stark reality existing just inches away from me. However comforting it initally was, it felt suffocating as opposed to the reality that'd have set me free with it's unbounded spirit, albeit exposing me to the cold (pun intended). It took me some time but with a change in mindset, support from people around and with a leap of faith, I finally stepped out of the tent. This very realisation comes after a prolonged period in most life experiences, but a even a small step in the right direction will get you closer to the truth. Once I was outside the tent, I decided to live the rest of my journey and not just endure, because it was no longer suffocating. I couldn't contain the excitement of trekking after dusk in the uncharted lands of the Himalayas. I was prepared for a once-in-a-lifetime experience because it was truly liberating. So I guess while the whole purpose of life is to create order and scale one peak after another, it's these oddities that give us an important perspective about just how unpredictable life can get. Thus it's necessary that we accept, learn and live through these moments because life on the other side of this journey is equally beautiful! :) ( and in my case, I witnessed one of the most beautiful mornings of my life, on the following day.) P.S : It'd be an exaggeration if I said that this day changed my life, but this experience in itself has had a great impact on me, having given me ability to think freely, focus on my thoughts and emote them. So this story is a culmination of plenty life experiences, put into words thanks to this one out-of-the-world experience.