a day

I woke at 3 am suddenly and couldn’t sleep again, so I was just searching for a place to visit today. The weather wasn’t that pleasing, so I was a bit skeptical, which took me nearly an hour to decide if I could do a long distance ride if the clouds were friendly. The climate seemed to be clearing, so I started the ride around 5 am, hoping the rain had stopped. It took nearly an hour to reach the hill, which was 60 km from my home. I was the first one there, and the parking lady said it was okay to go first and pay when I came back.

This hill has temples, and people usually swarm in often, but still the nature isn’t much explored, as it is dense apart from the walking trails. When I came close to the hill, it seemed the rain had visited an hour earlier, so the top was filled with clouds and the place was wet. As I was walking along the path, assembling my gear, random groups of monkeys approached me for snacks, but I had nothing. They are usually seen only at the top of the hill, where people tend to eat and there is a tiny hut where they sometimes cook or even sell tea and snacks for people.

The hill takes almost two hours to reach the top and has nearly three levels of steps: at first it is dense and has rocks arranged as a walking path; the next section has proper granite stone steps that are easy; and the last one is full of bare hill rock, where some iron handles are attached to the rock for climbing, along with half-sculpted stairs.

As I was walking, the sun had already begun shining through little droplets on leaves in golden colors and the birds had started their songs. I was walking as slowly as possible, looking at everything, even under the leaves. I heard people’s voices from below, as it seemed like a big family was approaching me, though I usually stand aside to let them walk past me so I can stay slow and mind my business. When I looked back, I saw this little kid and a father carrying a bag coming near. So I gave them space to pass through when the kid called, “Oh, photographer!!”

A few minutes after they went, I was still searching for any species to appear, yet nothing came by so I decided to speed up and check a different spot. This kid, his father and his uncle were sitting on a step and as soon as I came near the kid asked, “Did you see the monkey?” I asked, “Did you bring the banana?” and he said no. Then he looked up at his dad and said, “Why didn’t we bring the banana slip?” And I asked, “Would you carry that much weight on this long trek?”

Then he thought for a second and asked why I had a camera, for monkeys? And I said no, there are more like bees, butterflies, dragonflies, and birds. He looked at my gear wondering about it. Then I started walking, leaving them and again saw them at another point where his father was struggling with the bag, so he rested again where I was searching for insects. As soon as they reached from above, there was another gang coming at me. It was monkeys, but they went straight up to the father, showing some power and surrounding him. The kid started shouting, and the uncle rushed to yell at the monkeys to clear their path.

But me, who has big gear, usually when I point it at them, they panic and run away, which I use to overcome this ancestral war zone. I was walking again when the sun started playing hide and seek, just coming out and hiding in the clouds. Then I saw the whole group coming from behind; it was almost three or four families combined, with about five kids, all just around five years old. They were noticing me going ahead, so one kid, who seemed like he wanted some race, started rushing towards me while his family members yelled at him to sit.

He came around me and sat, waiting for his other friends to catch up. But I wanted to keep moving forward, where this became a loop of them coming near me to rest while I shot, since I move like a snail and can speed up anytime, while they struggled to pass me. That’s when the kids were yelling that it’s the photographer guy who is first and whenever they caught up, I could hear this bunch of kids yelling, “HEY, WE SAW PHOTOGRAPHER!” Though I kept quiet, I enjoyed being famous, as they were my followers of the day.

Suddenly, a girl in the kids’ group started crying and all the kids were trying to console her, so I waited until the grown-ups reached, as we had come fast. Then another girl realized she didn’t see her mom. As the elder woman approached near, she said, “Don’t cry, your mom is the last one in the group, so she will take time but will surely reach you.”

Level one was over, where there is a path between level one and level two, but I let the family go ahead of me while I was capturing this tiniest spider I ever saw. A grandma from behind asked, “What are you doing?” and I had to point my finger and say “This is a spider.” She said, “Oh almighty! what a creation” even when she was out of breath from the walk.

I thought of going to that route between the levels, which is dense and quiet, and which I had marked last time. But this family resting and taking a break diverted me to the level 2 stairway, which is full of steps, and there was this tarantula running straight towards me and I was like, “What the hell!!??”

The spider came towards me and stopped near a snail and I thought it was going for a hunt, which turned out to be prey for ants. The ants, within a second, swarmed around the spider, and it was no more. “What is the photographer doing?” asked a kid in the background.

As I started to move towards the steps, which were kind of hard, yet I couldn’t find anything to click. Now level 3 was here, and this could be slippery, as the fog was covering the path and the rocks were wet, so I had to be very slow. The foggy clouds were rushing and painting the paths and rocks white, so I was enjoying it and didn’t click much.

Now that I reached the hilltop, I saw an old man setting up the shop, as he had brought some items from below, and he was saying it would take time when the monkeys appeared and there were a lot of them, so I went to the top. I dropped everything and sat alone, as no one was up there, not even the sun—just the fog clouds moving here and there, giving little views of the village below and then closing it again. So I just lay down in the breeze when the sun came for a peek. There were butterflies and bees rushing and crashing into the rocks. It had been almost 40 minutes and suddenly I felt hungry, so I decided to go down to the shop, which is a few meters below. When I reached it, “It’s the PHOTOGRAPHER!” yelled a kid, and some other aunts asked, “Is that him?” I know these kids had made stories to tell their family people, probably.

I went inside the so-called shop, where it was just old items collected and attached with thorns to fill the gaps so the monkeys don’t heist it all. He said to give him some time, as many others were waiting for tea. I usually eat nothing, but I knew it would take me till noon to go down, so I wanted to fill in with something. But someone was curious, peeking through the gaps.

Suddenly, I heard sounds over the shop—monkeys running and gathering around and it looked like a gang war was happening, while all the people watched like it was a sports channel. Of course, people always find violence their favorite genre. Someone took out a slingshot and started chasing them all away. Suddenly, new people arrived: a man and two kids carrying supply items on their heads. I had seen these kids before; they always bring shop supplies from below, don’t wear shoes, and are really faster climbers than me. As soon as they dropped the supplies they left the scene.

And there comes my chai which barely looks like one and while I was having it there where chattering of people and kids playing something like rhymes while their parents lying down trying to find some oxygen for breathing.

It was breezy, and the fogs were keeping it dreamy, so I decided to visit my favorite tree, which is at one end of the hill where no one goes, as people always think the top is their priority. I dropped my bags, and the tree looked cool and I was just watching everything around, from tiny moths to flowers. Suddenly, I looked far and saw something gliding like a falcon, so I changed my lens and found it was a Shaheen falcon! It’s a peregrine falcon, the fastest animal on the planet, but this subspecies is regional and doesn’t migrate.

It was just gliding through, and me standing at the end of the hill felt so ironic. I started wondering how the big world looks so small from their view, while we can’t even move our home anywhere, thinking of limited space, but they see a world so big that they can dwell anywhere and enjoy any view. Maybe if we had wings, we wouldn’t be bothered about luxury and comfort, as freedom from up here seems calm and full of opportunities. I spent another 30 minutes waiting for that falcon, but it didn’t come, so I started my journey down. I was slow, taking as much time as possible to just wander here and there, while people climbing asked about my camera. Then almost halfway down to level 3, I saw these kids again, carrying loads on their heads AGAIN, along with an old man. Both were complaining about something regarding the shopkeeper, that they hadn’t brought enough money.

I was wondering how they were climbing up again, as I had seen them just an hour before. I was going down slowly when the sun came out and the clouds disappeared as I reached level 2, where I was slowing down for the shadows and checking for some insects along the path. Then someone’s voice called, “Camera’kara anne!” I saw two kids coming down asking what I was doing. I started to explain that I like nature and was looking for insects and birds. She seemed surprised, but we had crossed paths before on many treks, though I hadn’t talked to her any time. She came along and her sister was a few steps behind, seeming calm and introverted.

And this girl asked me “For what purpose?” So I said I’m working on my book to educate people.

“So, you sell books in schools? Is that you?”

“No, I’m just starting and working on research.”

“So, what do you need?”

“Anything that has life.”

She was curious and started questioning what I needed, pointing out everything with excitement. “Look, a snail! Butterfly! Ants! Grasshopper!!” She was running around, trying to find something for me.

I had to explain that I only click what is new to me which I have never observed before. So they were walking with me pointing out things and I had to cancel everything. I started to question them: “What’s your name?” “Jothi,” and the introverted one is Dhana.

Don’t u have school? Which class?

No its leave today.7 n 8th grade

Why?

Idk we had today

How much for supply from bottom

700 per trip

How many trip u do a day?

atmost 3 times

I was like, wow, that’s crazy to do with loads on their heads three times. And they were yelling at me, asking why I wasn’t clicking anything. We came to the level 2 point where I saw the tarantula. She said, “We’re clicking something here” and Dhana shouted “Rubber band” and Jo started picking it up. There were so many, so she picked them and said she would tie them together for playing. I had never seen that and I was looking for insects when I noticed a spider wasp drowning in a little rainwater on the rock.

Jo came and watched me click and laughed as the wasp was running and she taunted me for not taking it perfectly. When I showed her the shot she said “Oh wow! it’s so big, it came out good.”

I was looking around and started heading down when suddenly Jo said, “I missed my 20 rupees,” which she might have dropped nearby, so she said, “You go, I’ll pick it up and come.” I kept walking down while both of them ran up, as it seemed that was the only money they had brought that day.

They came back and started asking questions and talking about random things like snakes and how they had seen them. They were playing around while I was trying to focus on insects, but the sun reached the top as it was noon. There were some rock dragons that refused to pose but look at this diva.

When Jo started pointing out a termite on a piece of wood by kicking it, I said, “Don’t ever do that” and she asked “Why not?” I asked her, “What would you do if something more powerful than you knocked your home down?”

Jo: Like?

Me: Elephant

Jo: Oh I would feed him banana?

Dhana: Not your rented home! You silly stop lying you wont like when its your own home!

Then she ran towards a bee, and I said, “Don’t.” I had to explain that if bees die, we won’t be able to have trees and flowers, which would turn everything into a desert. They were listening as we walked down, watching other people judging us.

I warned her not to ever disturb any insects around, but she was not serious. We kept going, finding new things and Dhana suddenly became talkative, telling me about the place and the people who come here, which is only to throw trash. Then we saw a butterfly drowning and I asked her to help me with a stick, but she ended up picking it up herself.

We had almost reached the bottom, so I had to sit down and offer them water, but they refused. I dismantled my gear and they wanted to click images, so I taught them how to hold and use the camera. Both started posing and playing with it.

Now we reached near the parking, where an old man was asking for change. I had nothing in my pocket, so I said, “Maybe next time.” The kids looked at me and said “He is a good guy, not the other one around who is mean so give this old man something next time.” As I nodded in agreement, we reached the parking spot. Since I hadn’t paid my parking ticket, I asked the lady, “Shall I GPay?” But she said, “No need, I have seen you often, so it’s okay.”

The kids were listening quietly while I went to pick up my bike which was on an elevated position. They asked me how much, but I ignored them as I was arranging the bike and bags. Then both of them went to the lady to ask how much and suddenly Jo pulled out her 20 rupees and said, “Have it!” towards the lady.

I told the parking lady not to take it from them and said goodbye to the two kids, saying we would meet next time. But the whole day was a contrast, there was a family walking for spirituality while I was going up and there were these two kids walking multiple times on the same hill for survival yet so giving in nature. Same trail yet so many paths of hope for tomorrow while nature seems unbothered simply being in the present.