It was Good Friday, April 22, 2011. I was in Gingee, my hometown. Everything was routine about the day when it began except that it was a government holiday. The sun was out and shining brightly. Everybody in my house was going about their routines. I had my breakfast with Vicky who was with us, vacationing.
I received a phone call from my friend, Saravanan. He said he was coming to my home from Bangalore. We like trekking. I had traveled with him to Rajasthan and Rishikesh. We make plans as we travel. Previously I had told him about Paruvathamalai, and he was eager to climb it. So, we had decided to go to Paruvathamalai, and Vicky joined us.
I received a phone call from my friend, Saravanan. He said he was coming to my home from Bangalore. We like trekking. I had traveled with him to Rajasthan and Rishikesh. We make plans as we travel. Previously I had told him about Paruvathamalai, and he was eager to climb it. So, we had decided to go to Paruvathamalai, and Vicky joined us.
Saravanan came to my home at around 10 a.m. After he rested a bit, we began our journey. I always believe that poor planning makes the journey more interesting. En route to Paruvathamalai lies Thiruvannamalai, so we decided to abandon Paruvathamalai and climb Thiruvannamalai. We reached Thiruvannamalai at 12:30 p.m. The height of the mountain was approximately 2500 feet. The mountain top has a Thirusul. We decided to climb the mountain from north mainly because it -worn path. The grass was knee-high and there were thorny bushes everywhere. That sets the tone for an interesting trek. We were not making good progress as we relaxed often. There was was a difficult route. I was familiar with the terrain as I had climbed it earlier. We started our climb at 1:00 p.m. with few bananas and a couple of water bottles. There was not even foot a fissure, of about 30 feet long and 20 feet wide, created by mountain streams. As it goes up it thins out and vanishes. You can clearly see the mountain top from a distance on ground zero, but when you are climbing on it the nearest hump might seem like the summit as it hides the hill top from our view. We had such an illusion once. When we were about 50 feet from the top we saw dark clouds approaching the mountain. It was around 6 p.m. I sensed that it is not going to be normal up there. It was like nature is replacing its blue theme for a black one. I told my friend that it was not advisable to go up there now as the lightning might strike us. He did not heed my advice and I did not want him to go up there alone, so we went up. On top of the mountain, we felt the cool breeze and enjoyed our few minutes. All of a sudden we heard the thunder and saw lightning. We quickly ducked and lied down behind a rock. It started raining heavily and we saw the lightning around us. Imagine yourself sitting on a 1000-meter tower in a heavy downpour with lightning and thunder. First lightning struck the Thirusul and we felt the earth shake as though a bomb had exploded near us. That shook all of us and we were screaming and were checking if everyone was fine. The rain, the thunder, the lightening continued for another 3 hours and we were witnessing the nature at its creative best. After sometime the fear had faded away slowly and I accepted death whole heartedly. At 9:30 p.m. the rain receded slowly and we climbed down the mountain with greater respect for life.
The nature teaches something all the time. Are we listening to it? When you had stared at your imminent death and live to tell the tale, you will realize that life is wonderful and each and every day is new and beautiful. You can laugh hysterically
