FROM DARJILING TO SHIMLA

I had always been a nature's person.Let me amplify stating that i feel like a child, full of bliss and devoid of any sorrows whnever i am cuddled in the lap of the nature.

Be it sea side , be it a mountain side or be it a forest ..what they call in tamil as Neithal, Kurinchi,Mullai etc.. i feel that the nature's abundance and beauty make me smile and get immersed in its vast expanse.

Some of these places i have visited in the company of my wife , some of them in the company of my family, some others in the company of my friends and some of them alone. Whether i have travlled alone or in the company of some one is unimportant. What is important is that every such visit energised me and enthused me to face life in better perspectives.

Time and again these visits have proved one thing..the smallness of human being, in the presence of the natures' vastness.Viz Huge mountains, the thick forests and the deep blue seas. These are places which are less traversed and conseqently less habitated and therefore less polluted.I did not mean the pollution of air and water . I mean the pollution of minds. Where the mind is held high and where the senses are supreme, the words and deeds strike harmony with each other resulting in peace of mind and bliss. Where there is no meet of the mind and heart, there results disharmony.

It is possibly the serenity of the place of vist, the peace in abundance witnessed there and the resultant calmness of mind which flows therefrom that makes such visits , worthy of remebrances.

It is almost 30 years back i have visited Darjeeling.The photostaken in black and white and the one taken in colour in an automatic camera, then of me and my wife(which has almost faded out making it difficult to understand who is male and who is female in that photo!!), the hot cups of tea which we gulped(no count on the numbers-as we have gone with out proper clothing to a hill resort)to keep us warm, the unsuccessful attempts that we made in the morning hours to get to see the peak of everest in the back drop of the golden Rising sun(due to continuous rains ), the trip that we had to Katmandu( Nepal) sneking across the borders, the visit to PASUPATHY NATH TEMPLE, THE pirated CDS we picked up at Rs 50 per CD in those years(Aradhana, HARE RAMA HARE KRISHNA are a few which i still remember for its clarity and the resilience taht these CDs had ) the heart beats which went fastert when we were stopped near a check post to check our belongings, the chappathis which we prepared at KOLKATTA to last atleast for 3 days of our stay, the paruppupodi combination with chappathi which we tried first at that point of time, the sweet nothings whispered and seldom understood then all linger in my memory at this point of time when i have visited Shimla.

Life has almost come a full circle as it would appear.From DARJILING in East to Shimla in North.Both places, i have been accompanied by my wife.The feelings and temparaments and the fulfillment levels have undergone a sea change over these 3 decades. There are of course places which we visited along with our children and surprisingly the visits have taken place with distinct precision . If 1980's witnessed our trip to Dargiling, 1990's saw our trip to OOTY, 2000's saw our trip to Kodikanal and again to OOTY, and the current decade, our recent trip to Shimla.

These visits are remembered for various factors and reasons.Some of them nice and some of them not so nice, But what is important is that the places perse have always left a soothing effect on mind and body and it is only the individual expectations and the feelings which at times created a blur.The best way therefore to rejoice a visit is to enjoy the moments as if we are born at that moment with out carrying any legacy from the past. Once we develop such an attitude to life, to shed our unwanted legacies, life becomes vibrant and bright.THERE IS A NEW LEAF/LEASE TO LIFE THAT generates in the process.