Mountains, Nature

On mist reveries…

Landscapes with mist, Bada Bhangal Trek, Dhauladhar Himalayas, Himachal Pradesh, India

Romanticism is one of those luxuries that evolution seems to have bestowed upon us once the issues of subsistence and food chain were dealt with… ask it to pump up the adrenalin for a daredevilry, or cough up some dopamine for a ruminating poem, and seldom shall it fail to oblige… the philosophy of spiritual enlightenment based on the premise of biological primacy seems rather presumptuous at times, but then the thought of existence akin to any other animal — what we’d perceive as a drudgery of survival for the sake of it — does not seem too inviting either… 

Landscapes with mist, Bada Bhangal Trek, Dhauladhar Himalayas, Himachal Pradesh, India
Kullu Valley after crossing Kalihani Pass (~4,800 mts), Himachal Pradesh

The interplay of clouds and mist tends to stir up this concoction of reactions… high in their domain, the elements shed off the stasis… and they play in scenarios, going about  creating weather as the weary wanderer wakes up from a walking slumber to compute the permutations to safety…

Landscapes with mist, Nag Tibba Trek, Garhwal Himalaya, Uttarakhand, India
Somewhere enroute Nag Tibba (~3,000 mts), Garhwal Himalaya, Uttarakhand

Consider the emotive nature of clouds… one can converse boastfully with fragmented white fluffs as they amble purposelessly across the blue tapestry of the sky, breathing not air but life itself as the environs go about their business… but as the sunny vista turns overcast, the dopamine gives way to adrenalin, and the hiker relents to drenching in sweat in order to avoid being inundated by the impending downpour…

Landscapes with mist, Bada Bhangal Trek, Dhauladhar Himalayas, Himachal Pradesh, India
Kalihani River, Dhauladhar Range, Himachal Pradesh

It is no different with mist either… watching it drift past as one plays absent-minded with grass blades can evoke the sanguine in the best of sceptics… but zoom in on the confused wayfarer trying to climb his way through the iron curtain of a fog, and you’d find that the sage is slowly giving way to the psychopath…

Landscapes with mist, Hemkund Sahib Trek, Garhwal Himalaya, Uttarakhand, India
Somewhere enroute Hemkund Sahib (~4,600 mts), Garhwal Himalaya, Uttarakhand

For ’tis ludicrous yet frightening at the same time, this concoction of vapours… in safe confines, one can inscribe it as that ‘beauty in motion’… in the absence of a shelter, it becomes a living hell, not that the elements transform, (maybe) only the consequences do… the turquoise of the horizon is preferable when the winds are cold, but what would a natural or linguistic discourse be if not for punctuations…

All said and done though, nothing beats the caress of a mist confused twixt lulling and rolling, with one’s cheek being the epicentre of that experiment…

Landscapes with mist, Bada Bhangal Trek, Dhauladhar Himalayas, Himachal Pradesh, India
Base of Thamsar Pass (~4,700 mts), Dhauladhar Range, Himachal Pradesh

Musings on the clouds and mists, sauntering in the Himalaya

Author: Parth Joshi

Mountain lover ⛰️ | Hiker 🥾| Runner 🏃‍♂️ | Cyclist 🚴 | Photographer 📷... allured by the outdoors, the author is a quintessential lost soul craving nature while suffering in a desk job...

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