Spontaneous Interaction vs A Planned Personal Relationship!
An Insightful Series of Life Lessons That My Life Provided As I Lived Understanding Its Psychology and Philosophy Improving My Mental Health in The Process.
LIFE LESSON STORIES SERIES
Unplanned Spontaneous Interactions Satiate Way More Than Planned Personal Relationships!
I was 25 years old when I went on a loosely planned solo trek in the Himalayas. I chose a less trodden path to join two points in my flexible itinerary passing through a dense forest. I was told it would take around 8 hours to cross the forest. And it would reach a river valley with a sprawling view of the high hills around. The jungle path was a steep climb to the top of a hill with a steeper descent into the valley.
My Trek through The Hilly Forest
The forest was breathtakingly awe-inspiring in its wilderness. The sun rays weren’t able to pierce through its extremely dense cover of tall trees loaded with leaves all around. It exuded a mysterious feeling in its environment. There was pin-drop silence all around broken by the sound of my steps crushing the dry leaves fallen below.
There wasn’t even a bridle-path visible that would have guided me through the right direction I was supposed to take. It was because not many people took that forest route to reach the valley for fear of bears in it. Although bears are herbivorous yet at times, they could attack humans fatally. I still took the risk as I was familiar with a few ways to dodge bears. Moreover, I was looking for an experience of a real adventure in my trek.
Navigating through The Dense Forest
I proceeded further by following the right direction taking me to the river valley at the right spot. But the sun was almost entirely invisible partly due to the denseness and partly due to clouds in the sky. Hence following the right direction became more of a guesswork than a calculated directional navigation.
But unfortunately, I lost my way through the jungle. Somehow, I kept blindly trying to reach the right point leading to the valley. But it was a dense maze of trees that gave no idea which way to go. I still kept on blindly walking in the hope of hitting the jackpot.
I Pegged My Tent in The Forest
It started getting dark and cold. I thought I would stop for the night and navigate my way the next day. Luckily, I had got all the trekking accessories with me along with food and water for a full day. I pegged my tent at a suitable place and ate what I had. I was very tired, hence I opened my sleeping bag filled with goose down and zipped it up around me. I also zipped down my tent and locked it from inside.
Next day I woke up early. I thought I would try to find my way as soon during the day as possible. After refreshing I immediately ate whatever was left, packed my gear and moved ahead.
I kept climbing for hours but to no avail. I started feeling hungry, but my supplies were over. Suddenly I came across a tree laden with red-colored fruit. I had never seen it before. But my botanical logic assured me that if it was so colorful, it was meant to be eaten by animals. I first took a very little bite into my mouth. The taste was awesome. I gulped it in and waited for a few minutes to check its reaction. Nothing wrong seemed to happen. I took the second bite that was a little larger in size and waited again for sometime. When I still sensed no harmful reaction, I ate a handful and filled all my food boxes with it. Now I had enough food with me for one more day.
I Saw A Bear Coming Toward Me at A Distance
As soon as I moved a little away, I saw a bear coming toward me at a distance. I just skipped a beat and froze motionless, lying down where I was. As the bear came closer, I even stopped my breath. My trick and my luck worked together. The bear smelled me and might have taken me to be a corpse. Whatever it was, it moved further down to the tree where I was eating its fruit a few minutes ago. Looked like the bear was hungry too!
After eating plentiful fruit, the bear made its way further down. Once I was sure it was no more there in the vicinity, I quickly made my way upward away from the bear as fast as possible.
What a narrow escape it was!
I had to spend even the second night in the forest. But luckily, I had enough of awesome tasting fruit collected from the tree sufficient till the next morning.
Next day after the breakfast, I climbed further up. And lo, as I reached the top, I discovered I had hit the right spot to climb down the valley. It was a kind of pass between high hills on both sides. I could easily have missed it if I had been even a few hundred meters away from it horizontally on my climbing path.
I Climbed Down The Valley
The climb down was steeper than the climb up but this time gravity was there to support me. I only had to take care of balancing my steps so that the gravity wouldn’t tumble me rolling down. So, I moved down carefully and reached the riverbank within 3 hours crossing it to the other side. It was a fast-flowing hilly brook with quite a few round stones brought down with its flow from hills. They worked as make-shift bridges to cross it with carefully balancing one’s steps on to them.
As I crossed the river, I heard a loud voice coming from a distance, “Are you a ghost?”
A Woman Washing Clothes in The River
And as I looked toward the direction of the voice coming from, I saw a woman washing clothes in the flow of the river.
“Do I look like one?” I shouted back from the distance.
“No human ever comes climbing down from the jungle up there,” she shouted in a matter-of-fact tone.
“Why?” I asked shouting again, moving a little closer to her.
“Many got killed up there, that’s why,” this time she didn’t have to shout that loud.
“Who kills them?” I went curious.
“Bear! There are plenty of them in the jungle. They don’t like people disturbing them. Didn’t you meet any?” sounded like she was still apprehensive of my existence as a human.
“I did. I did meet one,” I informed.
“And it killed you and you became a ghost! Tell me if you are one and I will straight run away from here,” she really stood up in caution!
“No, it spared me taking me to be a corpse. I acted well. I even stole its fruit. Look! It’s so tasty,” I showed her a few of those left with me.
“Yes, that is bear’s favorite food. How dare you eat it?” she seemed to start believing I wasn’t a ghost.
“But it’s so tasty! Why don’t you grow it in your village?” I proposed.
“And invite bears over there?” she outright rejected my proposal.
“But have you ever tasted it? It’s awesome!” I invited her to taste one extending my hand toward her.
She very cautiously moved ahead, took it from my hand and took a small bite out of it. Her eyes spread wide as she gulped it full.
“Wow!” she exclaimed.
“Now do you believe I am not a ghost?” I sat down where I was and started enjoying scenery around.
She didn’t reply and I started looking at the hill where I had descended from.
Suddenly a huge burst of water drenched me full. I sprang up when I heard her saying, “Now I believe you are not a ghost. Ghosts never get wet,” she had poured an entire vessel full of water on to my head!
“I will have to change my clothes now,” I sort of complained.
“Sorry, let me help you. Do you have them in your bag?” she felt a bit guilty and started opening my rook sac.
I saw there was another exactly similar vessel lying where she was sitting washing her clothes. I got a strong urge to equal with her. Without even thinking for a moment, I rushed bringing it to do with her what she had done with me.
It was her turn to be taken aback this time. As she looked at me surprised, I said laughing, “I also believe you are not a ghost, now.”
She stood up saying, “I don’t even have clothes to change.”
“In that case, I won’t change mine too,” I gave her a supportive stance.
She Kept Looking at Me for More Than A Minute
She kept looking at me for more than a minute without a single blink. I could sense a seductive look in her eyes as she said, “Let’s dry them in the sun. No one ever comes here at this point for fear of straying bears. Only I have been doing it ever since my childhood. This place is actually my emotional shelter.”
We spread our clothes for drying in the sun placing stones on them so that wind wouldn’t fly them away. Then we entered inside a shallow silent pool built naturally in a corner of the river’s dancing flow to hide our bare bodies. We stayed inside the river for around three hours. She looked to be in her late twenties from her face but certainly in her late teens from her body.
As she left for her village, she said, “Thank you, I didn’t know it could ever feel so good too!”
We didn’t even know each other’s names, but I still remember her to date. I had many relationships before and after this episode, but none ever matched the passion of that spontaneous interaction.
Unplanned spontaneous interactions certainly satiate way more than even the best planned relationships!
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