Sir, It seems you are developing AMS (Acute Mountain Sickness) symptoms. Before it takes over you, let me prepare you some homemade remedy to ease down your nauseousness.
A guy, who was also the caretaker of the homestay I was staying in, had told me when I was laying on a bed in sheer inconvenience, totally uncertain whether I would be able to proceed further on my journey from Manali to Leh or not?
They say, sometimes you can learn the best of your lessons in life at the least expected place and furthermore by the least expected people.
All we need to do is, just pay some attention without any prejudice.
I love mountains more than any other place because visiting the mountains keeps me humble and also makes me realize how tiny I am and my problems are when it comes to vastness of nature.
But after visiting it over and over again, I also realized, we can also learn a lot about life and its simplicity from the people living here.
In India, we affectionately call them, ΰ€ͺΰ€Ήΰ€Ύΰ₯ΰ₯, which means, the people who live in the mountain.
The art of being honest
Exceptions are always there, but as far as my experience is concerned, people living in the mountains are one of the most honest human beings you will ever come across.
There were several instances, where I left my bag with the people I barely knew, for hours, while going on a day hike but never faced problems of any kind.
Delhi is a great city, but still, my house got robbed two times there and I lost everything I owned.
Lately, I saw a viral video where people were looting the mangoes from a fruit vendor in Delhi when he was not around. I mean I have never seen or heard this kind of demeanor in the mountains at least.
The art of being helpful
What I like the most about the people living in the mountains is their hospitality.
I mean deep down they know, their lively hood is solely dependent on the travelers who crisscross at their place and they utterly respect this fact and can go to any extent to make you feel comfortable.
Ask for directions, they will share the meticulous details about the place.
Ask for one chapati, they will give you two with a smile on the face.
How not be the part of the rat-race?
Accept it or not, but we all are running some kind of race, the race of being better than our relatives and friends, the race of earning more money so we can buy things we don’t need to impress people we don’t care about.
But when I interact with the people living close to nature, the ΰ€ͺΰ€Ήΰ€Ύΰ₯ΰ₯ people, I find some kind of stillness, a sense of tranquility. I mean they are not running here and there to achieve something and in the process, dodging the life altogether.
They do have their own share of problems, but at least they are content in what they have. They find the beauty in simplicity. They too are trying to improve every aspect of their life but not at the cost of ignoring all the other facets of life.
How to be healthy and physically active?
This might be due to their demographic and it’s influence. But still, I have never seen them hesitating to walk an extra mile, climb a few more steps or cook their own meal every single day.
Which makes all the difference in the long run. The willingness to keep their body active and flexible.
Spotting a person somewhere around the age of 90-100 is not a rare sight in the mountains but it definitely is in the cities.
The people living in the cities predominantly rely on doctors and medical facilities to keep themselves fit and healthy but since these facilities are not so easily available in the mountains, the people living there have no option other than keeping their body fit and healthy naturally, all by themselves.
They respect nature and its resources
Yesterday, I had to yell at a taxi driver to pick up the trash he had thrown on the road.
Upon observing you will find many such instances, where people are polluting, littering, and exploiting nature and it’s resources in such a way that, they own this planet.
Exceptions are there but still, the majority of people are either the culprit or an ignorant.
But thank god, people in the mountains are devoid of these qualities. They do care about nature and it’s resources. You would barely find any littering at the places in the mountains. If on a few occasions you do find, it is mainly due to the tourist influx.
Since the tourists coming from the cities do have this habit of littering everything around. They don’t spare mountains either.
Final Thought!
It’s not that people living in urban areas are doing everything wrong. They too have qualities and traits one can incorporate or learn from.
But what I observed over the last few years is that education doesn’t guarantee you wisdom. You might acquire adequate knowledge to have a decent career and live a comfortable life.
But to live life responsibly, filled with contentment and happiness, you don’t necessarily need to be much educated. You just need some sanity.
I find people living in the mountains much more sane and prudent.
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