People, who live in the hills or love walking in the hills, can well understand what it means to breathe mountain air and feel the energy and freshness it can give to one’s body, mind and soul.
In Kim, Rudyard Kipling wrote “Who goes to the hills, goes to his mother”. In this short line, Kipling has expressed the feeling of security and joy, which one experiences in the presence of one’s mother, just like one does in the mountains. They are stable and eternal. They do not change as things keep changing all around us, especially in today’s world. They are true and staunch, evoking faith and trust.
I have always been friends with the hills. Growing up in the beautiful valley of Doon ringed by ranges — the Himalayas as well as the Shivaliks — mountains have been always an integral part of my physical, emotional and spiritual landscape. Watching them get washed in the monsoons and stand clean and new, getting laden with shining snow in winter and also getting hidden in the summer haze — this has been a part of the lives of all who can see the hills from the valley, looking up to them for comfort, for inspiration, for security.
living in the hills is like living in the bosom of a strong, sometimes proud, but always comforting mother. Every time I go away from here, the homecoming is warmer and sweeter. Once the mountains are in your blood, there is no escape.
If a hill person goes to the plains, one reason why he feels so lost is the absence of the mountains from his view. We are all used to looking up and seeing the hills if we live in a valley and seeing the hills all round us if we live in the mountains. If we do not see them for some days, we get withdrawal symptoms and feel uprooted. Just as a child feels without his parents. The hills, like our parents, seem to reassure us — “We are there for you, do not worry.”
life in the hills is not easy but the compensations are many. The clean air, the natural splendour and the simple pleasures of mountain life more than make up for the difficulties one faces when one resides in the mountains. Those who live in the hills are close to nature and also close to the basic values of life. The curtain of the hills succeeds in preserving certain traditions and behaviour, and an outlook on life which is less hurried, less competitive and more natural. The tranquility is a given and one can reap the benefits of it all one’s life. Your mind is more in harmony with the pattern of nature and you tend to lead your life in keeping with the patterns of nature. Yes, opportunities to climb the ladder of “success” may be fewer and also, the exciting life of the big cities may not exist in the mountain towns. But, for those who wish to be closer to themselves and to nature, these are things that they can happily give up to be in the hills. And those who hold the material successes dearer will, in any case, never really appreciate the majesty of the hills as one’s home. Such people, even when they come for a holiday to the mountains, usually bring with them the paraphernalia of their loud and hectic city routines.
Sitting on a bench and having steaming, milky tea and a sweet bun-makhan in the winter sun in the hills, watching the azure blue sky and imbibing the incredible warmth can transport one to a world where no care can really bother you. These are moments that etch lovely pictures on your soul and make life a continuum of simple joys which you can experience just by being there!
Poets in all languages have waxed eloquent about the glory of the mountains.Says one poet, “Awakening to mountain views, You know you're not bereft, That God is here, it isn't news, He never really left.”
While another writes: “All the birds have flown up and gone; A lonely cloud floats leisurely by. We never tire of looking at each other — Only the mountain and I..”
Watching the night sky from the hills is extremely enchanting as you feel that you can reach out your hand and touch a star! Exhilaration is a small word to describe the experience. Such is the divinity of the hills and the sanctity of the souls who love them.