Of talking mountains and roaring seas…

I have been working away like a zombie in the past few weeks.  It has been thanks to a confluence of circumstances. 

Activity at the Centre has increased so much that I never seem to have enough time.  And then running from one task to another, one meeting to the next and catching up on an unending flow of email messages help me to keep out the ghosts of the recent past, leaving me with little time to think of anything pleasant or otherwise. 

There is always the downside.  There is hardly any time for deeper reflection that comes with breathing fresh air. 

Another downside has been that I could never find enough time to indulge the many topics that I think of when I have some vacant moments.

One of them has been the thoughts of Biswanath Ghosh, an author I am beginning to like and I did not even know of until amount a month back.  Here is the link.  http://www.thehindu.com/features/metroplus/writers-block-column-the-mountain-can-talk/article7383003.ece

This is the third piece in a row that where his thoughts resonate with mine. 

Whenever my wife and I go on a holiday to the hills or to a seaside destination we get into fairly massive spats over the choice of location. 

Usually I am the one who is quarrelling whenever we go to the hills because of my fear of heights.  It somehow feels so unnatural to me when humans live at an altitude.  And here is why. 

I believe that the Lord is the greatest Designer.  And He is the most utilitarian and thrifty of Designers. 

There is a never an element that does not have a reason for being where it is – whether it be the tails of animals or the unusual intestines of the giraffe that allows thorns to pass through into its waste, the numerous variations of flora and fauna and so on.  Nothing ever seems to be in the wrong place in His Universe. 

If we believe in that then humans do not belong to the hills in my humble opinion.  They cannot fly their way to the top.  They cannot clamber like the simians or the cats.  They are not sure-footed enough to be able to reach the top without falling and facing disastrous consequences, except for the few that work very hard on overcoming these natural limitations and go on to become what we call trained mountaineers.

Just think about it – and you will wonder like I do why men (and women) are fascinated by the hills. 

So I tell my wife, who cannot seem to have enough of hills and who likes to climb anything she can, hills and trees alike:  Hills are for monkeys and the plains are for men.

Ghosh does not say quite any of that.  But it appears that like me he cannot seem to let his mind be still and just  simply take in the sights and sounds on a holiday.  His mind seems to be lost or caught in this process of reflection and comparison.

The scriptures say that is not conducive to spiritual evolution, which seems to be his primary fascination with the hills ironically.

Nanni....Namaskaaram...