Something of Everything

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Water power, the greatest of all powers on earth.

A View from Naggar

It doesn’t stop and goes on and on. It charts its own course and nobody can ever stop it. No rock is powerful enough to block its way. Aha! There’s no need to drink milk if one’s drinking water—say pure water, the water that trickles down the slopes of the Himalayas with all its celestial sweetness intact. It’s the elixir of life. Water connects earth with heaven: it’s the purest connection between mundane and heavenly. Water is solace; it cleanses the heart in the form of tears; it fills human heart with courage to move on, all the loads of human imperfection notwithstanding.

Snow at a Close-up: On the way to Solang Nala

Thus water moves on, and has been doing so since time immemorial. Let me quote Alfred Lord Tennyson from his poem “The Brook”—

And out again I curve and flow

To join the brimming river,

For men may come and men may go,

But I go on for ever

Way to Manali: Before the Cloud could Overtake

It’s silver ambience all around: remember the silver sparkle of the snow; remember the fluffy clouds scudding across the blue autumn sky from horizon to horizon. Feel the enchanting smile of your sweetheart; feel the blossom of lily in dew-drenched autumn morning. Remember the plum tree abloom on the slopes of the mountains in all resplendence and feel its purity. And feel the moonbeam reflecting on fresh snow and imbibe its sublime tranquility. Feel hope and feel the assurance of god—He’s watching us every moment, communicating with us through his silvery vibes, his own little heavenly vibes.

The Flowering Plum: On the way to Manikaran

Flower: she’s the embodiment of ethereal beauty that enchants, and she’s now abloom. She’s in a hurry to give her best. She has no time to wait for the lazy leaves to get up from their slumber and see how the world had been in their absence. She knows she has to smile and make others do that, and she cannot be too late. She knows smiling first is smiling the best, the purest.

Mahogi: On way to Kullu

There’s charm in walking alone. In the words of Rabindranath Tagore, Ekla chalo! Jodi tor dak shune keu na ase tobe ekla chalo re. “If no one responds to your call, then go your own way alone”.  When what one longs for is peace, one has to follow his heart. It is so very near yet so elusive! Let me quote Robert Frost:

These woods are lovely, dark and deep

But I’ve promises to keep

And miles to go before I sleep

And miles to go before I sleep.

Water is music. Listen to the waves lapping against the seashore. Listen to the river bubbling over the ancient rocks, imparting the eternal truth of existence. Listen to the charm of silence, the rhythm of bliss and ecstasy.

Solang Nala and Beyond

Look! High above the mountains where the moon casts his silver magic, forever—since time immemorial, where, night after night, low-hanging stars besprinkle their diamond blessings, stands a house—his celestial house. Going there to the neighbourhood of divine abode makes him special, a cut above the rest. Why so? For he aims for a special communion with god in a very ancient way, with a vow to do the penance till god almighty is pleased to grant him boon, to be deathless and all-powerful, to do exactly what Vyas once found Pandavas doing for their mythical preeminence, say going to swarg without having to die. Living there, where lord Shiva is his neighbour, where the lord descends from Kailash to visit his dear little devotee in the midst of his rapture and trance. Living there would bring him the secret knowledge of life and beyond.

The Beas

If going straight is not the choice then what else? If it has to move on not as a crow flies but as a snake slithers, let it be so. It is sufficient if it does not lose its way in the wilderness. It is sufficient if it goes on and on.Again to quote Tennyson

I chatter over stony ways,

In little sharps and trebles,

I bubble into eddying bays,

I babble on the pebbles.

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By
A N Nanda
Shimla
16-03-2013
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