“Say something,” prompted Vishal, his camera pointed at Soumo.
“What?”
“Anything. Whatever is going through your mind right now.”
“Okay, the first thing I said when I set foot here was, God thanks for giving me limbs.”
“To make it to the summit?”
“No, to live a fantasy,” Soumo looked to the right. Vishal turned the camera in the same direction, slowly and carefully, away from Soumo, until the Sun and the snow-covered mountains entered the frame. “I am living my fantasy as of this moment. Thank you, God!”
“Ajay, anything?”
Unlike Soumo, Ajay needed no coaxing. He was ready to go. “Dude, it was an arduous climb. Still, it was worth it. I wouldn’t have got this view anywhere else. The vast snowy mountain ranges and overlooking everything him,” he pointed to the small Shiva statue located at a distance. Somebody had created a make-shift temple of sorts. “This is a very humbling experience for me. No matter what I achieve in life, how rich I become, I’ll remember simple pleasures like these and always seek them out.”
“Very well put, Ajay. Sheth, you up?”
“People often take some things for granted,” began Sheth, adjusting his spectacles. He was still breathing heavily. “They proclaim humans to be the supreme species that inhabit our planet, that humans have got the best of everything. Even at this very moment, I can see the birds soar into the open sky over such a surreal landscape, without requiring the help of any external appendage or device, and it makes me say, ‘Really’.”
“Woah Sheth,” Vishal heard Soumo's voice from behind. “Your scorn for the human race was very well put.”
Vishal was about to end the video when Ajay jumped into the frame. “Sheth had to go through hell to reach the top of the mountain. But he finally did. And we are very proud of him for that.”
“Yeah, even I am surprised Sheth,” said Vishal. “The last time I saw you, you were sitting near the stairs of Tungnath Temple, and had given up completely, saying that you would join us on our way back. I tried to motivate you but you did not buzz. What happened then?”
“I didn’t come because you encouraged me to come,” replied Sheth and pointed to Soumo. “I came because he told me I could not.”
Vishal imagined a mini version of Soumo and him floating above each shoulder of Sheth and saying 'No, you cannot' and 'Yes, you can' respectively.
“Tough love, huh,” commented Ajay.
Meanwhile, the Sun shined majestically over Nanda Devi, Trishul, and Chaukhamba peaks. Vishal was not an early riser but thank God, he was up and about at 4 AM despite the freezing temperature prevalent in Chopta Valley. Flashlights in hand, the four of them had maneuvered their way through the darkness, to witness the sunrise from Chandrashila Peak, which was located at a height of 13,000 feet above sea level. Vishal had reached the Summit at 7 AM, soon after Ajay and Soumo. He would have been the first to reach had he not stopped to encourage Sheth who eventually arrived an hour later. It was hard to believe that there was nobody else around, just the four of them. And nobody was happier about this than Soumo. The surreal 360-degree view of the landscape stretching all around was reserved solely for them. An open-air theatre with a private screening.
Still, the three hours spent there wasn’t enough. When they left, they did so with a heavy heart.
***
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