A call from the mountains

It was a time 9 moons ago, there was a call from a cousin in the morning,“are u going to the mountains today? Of course we are I replied”.It certainly was like a call from the mountain itself inviting us to its top.

The mountain is called as “ kancha malai” meaning the Golden Mountain, it has no gold, but the folks of those days must have had a reason for its name. It has iron-ore, they knew methods to turn base metals to gold and help humans to reach golden heights in other matters.

It was my wife,kid, cousin and me.We dropped our vehicle at the foot of the mountains near a temple and along with the crowds started to walk up the slippery mountain path,making a silent prayer to the guardian spirit at the base.

On full moon nights folks walk up the mountain,as a ritual and others as a trek up for the sheer pleasure, folks from near and far enjoy the climb.There are arrow marks made in case we loose our way. The evening breeze is cool and for the initial climb can be really welcoming as we have a bit of the sun light at our backs.

I got myself a stick at the base and it helps for the climb with the shoes. There are many who do it barefoot, to absorb the energy through the sole and feel mother earth more.

The initial climb is at 45 degrees for the first mountain and it sure makes one sweat and huff and puff for that normal breath .

Once we reached the top of the first mountain the sights of the land below,the herbal breeze,the twilight coming on with the dusk going,made the rest of the trip easier. We sipped some water and saved our eats for the summit.

The whole path is made of mud and slippery steps of natural formations and some times laid by fore walkers.We reached the top to the welcome of more chill breeze and vendors of eats calling for a treat.

We parked at a parapet wall outside a temple with the slight drizzle on, we shared our eats of sandwiches of tomatoes and spent about half an hour on the top.The on coming rush made us decide to start the down ward trip.

The full moon was showing us our path down and we sat and moved our steps at places and let ourselves slide at others. There were some who brought their battery torches, they found ways but lost paths,with the lights.

The silvery moon light was romantic,if u had your partner,or it was just a light at the sky, sending its beams of lunatic feelings to us.The lights of the plains were dazzling ;like the creations of stars in the sky, salem on one side, on the other it was the coimbatore high way, we saw our village lights and connected them to our streets with guesses.

The way down was more slower and cautious steps taken to prevent falls, there were times of being recognized by country cousins,greetings exchanged till we reached the base, where lots of folks were offering free drinks of country gruel and other food to the treckers. My stick was taken by another deserving climber.

We thanked the mountain guardian at the base for the trip, had a bath at the well near the temple. Refreshed we returned home to a sound sleep.