The Seven Mountains of Life

It’s a moody Saturday where me and my father decide to climb the majestic and spiritual omnipresent chain of mountains called “Vellingiri hills”, my father used to say stories about how he climbs the mountain with one month prior of fasting and spiritual practices and how cool it will be to climb those mountains back in a day where he treks all the way up to 7 hills and worship lord shiva who’s self formed deity ! and now his busy schedule in the health department has stalled him from going to that mountain again

Though he used to set up medical camps in the foothills of the mountain where there is the main hill temple with the deity lord shiva , I also used to be in their government funded camps and help with some stuffs when I was younger , like helping the worshippers and climbers with medical aid , giving the medical kit to some climbers , providing health drinks and stuff , yet we couldn't find time to climb those mighty mountains by ourselves which takes nearly a day to climb

I was looking and admiring the mountains , and was imagining how the 7 hills would look , and picturing it in own my imagination by the words of the people who trek there , somehow we made the dates clear and me and my father planned a trip to the hills

In recent times , it has become a trend to climb the Vellingiri hills which is regarded as south Kailash and a highly known place , kudos to the ISHA foundation in the foothills of this mountain , the sudden urge of Spiritual attractions gravitate travellers from all over the world to place an eye on this hills

anyway we some how managed to plan a trip to Vellingiri hills , as usual we have packed the food , and also got our climbing stick which is made up of bamboo , it heavily helps while we move up ! the plan is to reach the 7th hill by morning 5 am so that we can possibly see the sunrise which is magical and also there is saying that the “Linga” ( deity ) is self formed from the rocks and there is a famous saying that the first sunrays fall on the Linga and spread all over the town

all these fascinating stories I've heard about the mountain made me so curious , we greeted good bye to our mother and sister to start the journey ! To our surprise when we reached the temple in the foothills , the rain started from no where , it was heavy that the water flowed from steps like a fountain

so it has made us wait till its intensity dropped , somehow the clouds passed and it is chill , it’s already 7 pm evening the sun has dropped down the west and as the dark arises the buzz of the wild insects and chirping of birds intensified , it looked like the first mountain started to call us with their best sound engineered boom boom !

First hill ~ pushing through fear

we looked at the starting point where we worship the Linga and the flame of camphor gave us a sense of hope and warmth in chilling weather , we started our journey with some chants and torch lights because it’s pitch black while climbing , after we climbed about 10 steps I felt something just walked pass my foot, I was sure it’s some reptile , I directed my torch towards those heavy stone steps , it turns out it’s a dark scorpion ! I was a bit scared cause they are poisonous , then it saw 5 to 6 of them in following steps and the person who came by our side started moving and pushing it by the bamboo stick we had , so we also followed the same tactic and I have moved half a dozen of scorpions , they were scary ! my father told as it just rained recently the jungle wakes up a bit making these creatures come out , then the person who’s a middle aged man joined with us in the climbing

The first hill is the easiest to climb because they are supporting steps that were placed and it is a bit of a steep too , so the steps helped a lot ! in the first hill’s mile stone there is a temple called “vellai vinayagar temple” a Ganesh temple ,small , not maintained well as it was above higher grounds , there is a thing in Hinduism were we always start or give first respect to Ganesha ! so placement of the temple was very opt ! as completing the first step ! the person who accompanied who we made friends as the scorpion saga said that though the steps were slippery and had wild scorpions we never let that stop from continuing the journey , this is all shiva’s test ! it didn’t make sense to me but what he actually said is something true ! Even though there’s only darkness where ever you look , moving forward and pushing the negative people out of your way will always make you reach that destination sooner

Second hill ~ unity

before we started to climb the second mountain , which had only few steps carved out of the rocks , and the way looked so slippery with big rocks, and were surrounded by huge bamboo forest on both the sides , I’m scared once again but the enthusiasm to climb up the rocks made me move up and give a helping hand to my father and the person accompanied , I would say it was the most hardest hill to climb , as it rained recently the way was heavily slippery , to note that we didn’t wear any have slippers or shoes , we pushed through ! managed to rest for a minute or two , we three managed to get to the second mile stone with helping and reaching out to each other with their hands , it felt like a team , we helped out each other out ! even the rocks were called “valzukku paarai” which means slipping rocks in Tamil ! we crossed the second mile stone mostly by holding hands , now looking back at it feels so surreal ! so we both three worked as a team and that unity made us reach the second mile stone where there is a cave located called “pambpatti sithar cave ” ( snakes charmer cave ) ! I would like to quote one of my favourite song “moment for life” where Nicki Minaj says “But I couldn’t do it all alone, we” ! simple right ? you can’t win alone in anything ! either you take people with you or you dissipate the castle to sand and dust !

Third hill ~ “She❤️ ”

after successfully climbing the second mile stone ! our stomach started to make sounds indicating that it’s time for some dinner , so we three got settled in a lost building like structure that was around the middle of the high bamboo trees ! it was in the path’s right side , we sat there , and there were two more people sitting in the back of my direction , also opening their own parcels that they packed ! I couldn’t see them in the dark ! some way I knew it’s rude to point a torch at strangers ! so we spoke to them only in the dark, I could sense one was a man and assumed he is accompanying another boy , some how my father initiated some chats and the man and my father got along a bit ,my father is a great socializer , remember it all happened in dark , none of us turned our torches on , the only light that was being seen is the torch lights of other climbers on the path ! he said let’s eat together

I turned towards that boy ! suddenly I hear a sweet voice “Appa ! antha thanni edu” ( meaning dad pass that water to me in Tamil ) , I was shook ! because it doesn’t sound like a male voice ! suddenly switched on my torch placed it right in the person’s face ! “ Heyyy ! ” she said ! with one of her hands covering her face ,as a sudden light shock ! slightly opened her eye lids !like a new born baby seeing the light for the first time ! dark hair , a checked white shirt with combination of light red stripes and boxes ! her hair was double folded with ribbon plaits ! man I even remember her ribbon colour it was blue ! she looked like a school student (just as me ,I was in my 7th grade ) square face with a sharp chin ! a Wheatish Indian skin tone and texture ,pointy with large upper lips ! I was in awe !basically her face glowed brighter than the torches we held ( at least for me🥺 ) ! the chirping and buzzing of wild insects and bugs sounded music to my ears ! wish I could go back to that moment once again ! all of this I noticed in a matter of seconds ! she was looking at me in a confused way !

Everybody eventually started putting their torches on as we got ready to eat ! they had pappadams ( a Indian snack) to crunch over , we had chapati and tomato chutney with us and some well prepared tamarind rice, they also got the same tamarind rice , we shared the food among us !she offered me the tamarind rice in a small banana leaf though I was full by eating my home prepared food ! I couldn’t resist myself from not accepting it from her ! you know it was magical ! see the words are not enough to describe her or the story in a single article ! so to be continued …

please wait patiently until , the continuation drops ! follow me for more real stories ! support me and my fellow writers in medium ! always remember your story matters ! I'll see you in the article sequel , cheers ❤️!