6 Time Crimes
I was not very far in the past when I had the similar experience but the circumstances, they were different, made it all just an upside done experience. Something so wonderful and yet so hollow makes one wonder.
A Panoramic View of Campsite at "Mullah Ki Basti".
This picks up just where the former ended. I was walking fast to keep ahead of the suicide squad. But I could not keep up with the speed and I had to change the course way too often as wet mud and water would block my path. Trail was mostly lost there. My distance from them was decreasing and eventually the time came when they reached me and so did the thickest clouds and strong winds. I had no idea what was God’s plan. For all I knew I had to be on a superior position for it to work. But I was not, I had no protection against the weather or my fully functional interior.
They were dispersed, the guy walking very fast, approached me. I could see him reaching me from corner of my eye, I held my breath while taking faster steps.
“How much further it is?” he asked and I turned my head around to see him.
I relieved myself as I evacuated my lungs, it was a different group. A nice fellow, Dentist by profession he later told me. He was accompanied by some of his students on the trip. He was carrying on an umbrella and wearing thin sole sneakers. I asked him if he ever planned the trip.
“No but I will next one” he responded.
We were trying to make our way through the never ending meadows trying to figure out the smoothest way. It was not very long that rain finally caught us. Dentist opened his umbrella, which proved to be a crime at the time as the wind broke it the second it spread it’s wings. Now he looked helpless. Rain was getting stronger. I took the umbrella and told him to hold it in a way to keep the main pole and the frame in line and use as a shield rather. The rain and wind were coming from the front. He was walking fast and I could not catch up with him. We started to run eventually but no use. Rain was way too strong. We came to point where we had to get to a higher ground while there was a little wooden bridge to cross the stream and on other side,there was a camp a little up on the mountain.. We reach the higher ground and there, I told the dentist to shelter with a big rock which,along with the umbrella, would cover us . We took the shelter but it was of 'not much help'. We switched the rock to another one and then again another one. For quite long we stayed by the third rock, umbrella was covering all of dentist and only head of mine, rest of me was all in rain. We had no idea where to go and there was no one around or even in sight and the worst of all there was no sign of rain to stop or slow down. It was continuous and getting strong. Sometime between all that I realized that I had my mobile phone in my pocket and all this time I had left it on the mercy of luck. Not again, I told myself as I was still recovering from the remorse of dropping it in the tub and later paying for the fix up. I could not even check if it was wet. How could it not be, all of me was wet.
It made me even more frustrated.
” Listen, rain is not going to stop, and we cannot sit here for long, we will have to move.” Dentist said. I was too angry to think straight. And he had the umbrella, I had no option but to follow him.
“I saw the tent on the other side of the water, let’s go there and find shelter until others reach us.” I gave another suggestion.
Strangely his fellows, who were very close to us, have not reached yet. He did not agree to my suggestion. Meanwhile we saw a shepherd guiding his ponies and a traveler with him. He was going to the other side of the stream, he told us to switch the side using the wooden bridge behind. His ponies could not use that so he was rather using a shallow place in the stream to cross it. Dentist was quick to follow instructions while my mind was all over my mobile phone.
And it started hailing,
“Let me cross that bridge please” I prayed to God.
Wooden Bridge next afternoon, as we were on our way back, didn't look very scary now.
The bridge was a tough one, especially because it was very small, the logs were shaky and the wind was very strong. The man told us that the destination was only twenty minutes ahead maximum. Hail was getting strong. I asked the man if he has something I could wear. I was walking, shivering in my cotton shirt and using my scarf to somehow cover my pocket from the natural phenomenon. Shepherd told me that he only had a sheet which he had given to his client. The client, who was on the pony now, gave me a look. I was not even thinking of asking for it. I looked like a mess as did the whole valley. A different perspective. Back in May, only 3 months ago, I happened to be in hail during my trek back from Langer lake and it was a magical experience as I described it in my journal “Shower of Pearls”. It was the same naturally, the valley, the pearls and the clouds (Even that time i was praying to God to stop it until i cross huge boulders) but something was different this time. I was not liking it. They were bigger and were hitting very hard, especially on my hand which I was using to hold the scarf over my pocket (I still had hope that my phone would live). Little round pieces of ice and water, they had covered the whole valley. This time they felt like Styrofoam, not pearls. After you open a new TV set, we would get the pieces of cushioning out and rub those against rough surfaces to separate the tiny round particles which were hard to clean up and a mess. That was what it was at the time. No matter how much I tried the trek would not end.
Whole Valley was covered with hail. It was like treasure land with countless previous stones.
“Walk faster, you are very behind” the dentist shouted at me. It had been long since we were walking on this side of stream. I pointed on the other side of stream where his students were walking along. He told them to come to the side we were on. But the stream was wide and deeper then knees so they were helpless there.
"How much further we have to go?” I asked the shepherd.
“Only 20 minutes more to go.”, he responded.
“What, you said the same 30 minutes ago” I shouted at him.
“Those were 20 normal minutes, this is not normal. And what are you doing? Cover your head with that scarf please, you will get sick”. This was totally insane that he would say that. However later on we developed a good bond as we crossed paths many times with pleasant smiles (in contrast to crossings with others). he was always loaded with work and at once I mocked him for having a very profitable day.
One of the shepherd went to help out the students. It was raining, hailing, shivering, crucifying (thought of wet mobile) and hurting my injured leg. Now that I think of all that, I mostly am amazed how did I survive all that.
Ofcorse It was a sight to see the way I was walking and the way I was dressed up. Little pearls had made it all very slippery. On patched of grass, they were all dumped. In a different situation, I would have stopped there for a long time to look around and admire the color, how little green grass way trying to be seen from under the thick white substance which suddenly took over. Local kids who had been walking behind me decided to run. Finally I felt blessed as I saw the camps. Just before we approached the site, the rain and the hail both stopped. Ironic, isn't it.
It all was after “Ten Rupees” and just before “Water Washes Everything”.
Next morning, as the sun was climbing the mountains himself. We occupied The Big Blue Camp in the mid of picture.
And by the way my phone was miraculously safe. Although it's battery dropped from 22% to 4%. Which i saved for next 24 hours to check the time. Later people laughed at the fact that during all that my focus was my phone not my health or leg. But I think it was something where I acted like rest of the world instead being an anomaly.
