Expi Trek

I found this story written in my diary four years back.

I woke up to a rainy, windy and cold morning in April,2010, with leaves wafting across the window. The warmth of the blanket yoked with my sluggishness making me reluctant to step out of bed for a morning walk. But my mind persuaded me to enjoy the visage of beautiful nature in the morning before it wilts away, as well to keep myself fit, I hurriedly got up and asked my sister to accompany me. She agreed after much hesitation and both of us ventured out at about 6am with a light sweater on our backs.

I called up my neighbor Karishma, who was also my batch-mate and both of us were enjoying the 3 month long vacation after 10th state board exams. We did some jogging while waiting for Karishma to join us, who was also hesitant to come as the weather was splendid for sleeping. But enthusiasm to enjoy the mesmerizing weather could stop none of us, so she also came over and joined us.

We decided to walk near Shilpagram, an art center in Guwahati, unaware of the adventure that laid in wait for us on that day. As we reached there, the exotic view of the hills from there thrilled us and the weather was just perfect to take a stroll without weltering ourselves with sweat. My sister said that we must go to the serene hills so we jumped over a large, uncovered drain in order to reach the gate (the only way having a connection to the hill at that place).

Unfortunately,the gate was closed, but we didn't give up and decided to reach the hills by moving amid people's homes and across a field, yet to be farmed. My sister guided us in full spirit, her excitement was to such an extent that she forgot to be careful while walking across the patch of land and her poor feet went smoothly inside the soft brown mud . Watching her plight, I found myself a branch of a tree, with its help gauged every patch of land before stepping on it and finally reached a place with a well, with minimum effect on my feet. Karishma's sandals,to her agony, stopped supporting her too and now she was covered with mud and a torn sandal. Bravo! She still managed to walk and we reached a well where we cleaned our hands and feet. An old man, with his attire, a lungi nicely upturned into a fold was brushing his teeth and we wangled out a safe way to the hills from him. He advised us not to take the muddy path and as per his advice, we proceeded forward and reached a hill . But it was painful to see that the hill was half cut, to satisfy the so called human demands which is nothing but inflicting destruction to nature.

Whatever be it, my sister said we should climb the steep hill and reach its so called summit which was just a few feet from the ground level. My sister volunteered and we scaled up the hill by catching hold of the tiny grass and as there was nothing amusing to see, we came down very soon.As I was doing my downhill climb, to my surprise I saw two fish flying out of nowhere and later recognized that it was nothing but Karishma's sandals. After we reached down, we found a big pond, overflowing with water, as it was raining for last few days. The view seemed heavenly,with pond, hills, trees, open land and a soothing zephyr. We immediately went to the pond and dabbled our feet in the water even though I was wearing shoes, did not worry about its longevity.

We decided to find out the way to home and as we trod, we saw that the road was embellished with gauche, abandoned houses and bungalows which seemed like as if they were haunted. Curiosity led us to inspect if they were seriously ghost infested or not. We trudged along and found ourselves in the Assam Agricultural field. At this point of time, realization struck us hard when we saw that we were lost. To avoid further confusion, we went straight and reached a cow farm, with haystacks surrounding the place.

Suddenly, happiness was etched in our hearts as we found a place which we thought was the way to our homes. There was a stone wall which needs to be crossed, but a small miasma posed as an obstacle for us. I managed somehow to jump over the wall, when I encountered a suspicious lady, holding a toddler in her arms. She was keenly observing us and offered to guide us to our destination. We were skeptical, but we still followed her. But it turned out to be a huge mistake as we got more entangled in the unknown stretch of road, and the woman disappeared suddenly.We didn't panic as we arrived at a place which was more enchanting. We asked a boy, who was passing by, to show us our way, but he gave us very vague directions. So we decided to follow our wits and find the way.

We got to know that we have reached the Veterinary College Campus, which was quite far away from our home, if we want to reach by foot. Otherwise, it is a 4 to 5 minutes drive from home So we decided to back the same way we came from. We reached a place, with a pig farm and suddenly, the suspicious looking woman reappeared from amid the trees and the abandoned houses.

We knew that she was following us. She came near us again, but this time we didn't quite believe her when she voluntarily tried to help us again.We started asking her questions about the name of the place and her whereabouts, and we smashed her evil motives. She panicked and disappeared again. We had a good time laughing out this incident, although she vitiated our adventure. We then veered and returned by the same way we arrived at that place. The dark clouds hovering above indicated that it was about to rain. We reached home just in time, as a heavy downpour followed just after we returned.

This was a very memorable incident as a 16 year old teenager, since we trekked alone, found our destination ourselves, met that ghastly funny woman, and above all, had a taste of beautiful sylvan scenery, which was unexpected to be found inside a city.

We the three musketeers found a beautiful place.

This Expi Trek will be forever cherished.

Happiness or Fate?

"It is said that whatever occurs in your life is the result of your making."

To what degree one can gauge the verity of this statement?

Children born on the pavement and in poor families are being exploited by taking advantage of their vulnerability. Only because of their poverty and ignorance,they are hemmed into the illegal trade of begging and the minor girls being thrusted into the shells of prostitution by the evil perpetrators. The happiness of their life being banished right from their birth.

What if the person is born an orphan with no one to take care of or in a family where the father harasses the family continually and making the life of family miserable? Can one say that it is indeed the making of their own actions? Thousands of women have to forgo their very precious lives due to the dowry demands by their so called "Pati parmeshwar's". Women are being suppressed, not allowed to venture out to pursue their dreams and ambitions. They are throttled in the realm of the narrow minded people and treated as objects.
The mental trauma in such environments inflicts more pain than the physical torture and it can be only well understood by those who has gone through such sorrows. These grief feelings may adversely wreak a havoc in the lives of the persons who can't stabilize their mind easily.

We speak of terrorists and Maoists attacking the country, the evil doers harming the people. But what about the uncalled evils spreading and destroying the country? Is there any solution for the evil minds to commute from good to bad and institute a change to this society?

The above quote is true for many situations but in many cases people are rendered helpless under the hands of fate. But the perpective of the people can be modified to many extent if we can spread awareness and education. But it will really be a tedious process. Hoping that the lives of the people change for the better and there is prevailing happiness everywhere.

Only then the world would be a much better place to live in as compared to the present.