The Humble Old Man of the Hill

5 yrs ago, on a lonely pathway straddled with beautiful jasmines
out in the search of a mountain top I encountered a man in his 60's.


I had taken off from my guest house at 4:30 am in Mahabaleshwar to treck to the closest sunrise point as the place is very popular for its beautiful sunrises. I had a cap and a jacket to cover me from the heat and with literally no map or GPS for assistance I started walking out on to the main road. With directions from a few local men and women who were awake at that hour of the day, i came to know about a point on the hills that offered an awesome view of the sun rising and that it was only 5 miles away from where i stood. It was still dark so the locals could tell i was treading the roads as not one among them. I was a stranger to their lands and out of directions too.


Soon i found myself walking on the path that was suppose to lead to the hilltop. Sooner i realized i had walked past it by almost 2 miles. It was very dark and even the earliest rays of sun had not gleamed through the dark skies yet...the twilight was in the waking. So with ample of time ahead of me to return back to the hilltop i still had hope of making the best of the one day i was going to spend on this beautiful hill top town in maharashtra before i planned my way to Goa the same evening.


Mahabaleshwar is a beautiful place with lovely strawberry farms and a lot of places of historical significance as well as a dense forest with breath taking views from different points of the town. With an elevation of 1438 meters, this beautiful place is bound by valleys on all sides.


Sooner i had realized that i had overwalked my destination by a considerable distance I stopped over wondering in the middle of the dark road with no billboards or direction posts. I was lost. To my surprise, a nelderly figure from the other end of the road. He was approaching out of the twilight just when dawn was about to break. The elderly man was wearing a monkey cap to protect himself from the mountain cold and a red sweater to keep his body warm as he walked up the hill. From his walk i could tell he was accustomed to walking over this hill and my asking him confirmed the same.


I wished him good morning and asked him in if he knew directions to the sunrise point....the man stood still and looked up at me with a hunch, as his age bought him to almost near exhaustion climbing up the way. He took a deep breath and smiled at me. It was a smile similar and so familiar any person would acknowledge it with a open heart. At this point my apprehensions of having stopped his flight inappropriately disappeared and I smiled back at him.


The old man said that he has been walking up and down the hill for the past 40 yrs of his life as he worked at a plant nursery on the other side of the mountain.He had a contentment on his face of that of a warrior and the peacefullness of a happy man. I asked him if he has ever gone outside of the hill town ... he said no. I asked him if he every wanted to... he said no with a smile. I was very intriqued to ask why would he not like to see how the world has developped around his town just to explore new places, he just replied to me saying he has not thought about it yet.


As we kept walking back up the hill, a thought came to my mind. With a man who walked almost all of his life up and down the hill I had no right to complain about all the comforts i misuse in my daily life and all the nature i take for granted everyday This was a lesson i learned that day, walking with the humble man of the mountain hill. He taught me how to be satisfied with life and constantly battle the up's and down's of life as they are part of our every day life.


We walkied quitely enjoying the lovely breaking of dawn and cooing of birds till we came to a juncture where i started walking towards the sunrise point and the old man walked down the hill to tend the plants at the nursery.


The old man will walk again climbing the mountain and to the other side back home, i was glad to have met such a person who helped me see the sunrise from an entirely different perspective. I walked my way back to the guest house all awe inspired and feeling glad that i lost my way chasing the sun.