The Mountain and me - Part 1

There is an old saying in the mountains "The higher you go, the longer your descent"**. I dont claim to understand this, but true to typical SN style am going to come up with my own interpretation. In the past I have cut many a interesting tale short by trying to dish out the entire story in one chapter. Not this time. Let it not be said that Sanjay did not learn anything from the mountains.



Day 0: The how and why



Why does one go to the mountains? Lets see....since we are talking about one I guess the most common reasons must be:

1. To give up worldly pleasures and become a hermit.
2. To get away from the maddening crowd and be one amongst the Yetis and Loch ness monsters.
3. To figure out how vital the polluted urban atmosphere is for our existence.
4. To relive childhood fantasies of being a backwoodsman.
5. To check out the pretty mountain birds (get the drift)
6. To get lost on the slopes and valleys and then brag about getting rescued by a St. Bernard.
7. To become a goat

I can think of at least a dozen more reasons but I am not getting any marks for this so am going to let it go here. When I say one, one must understand that this does not necessarily include me. Knowing me (some say its impossible, but lets not listen to them for a while) people are more likely to come up with a list that looks more like:

1. To taste the local brews (sadly couldn't find a micro brewery anywhere so stuck to KF)
2. To survey the possibility of converting this piece of real estate into beach front property (don't look so aghast...after all the mountains came into being because of the collusion of 2 land masses...me just turning back the clock)
3. To slip slide away (yes yes...copy right S&G....but I lend my own meanin to this)
4. Its yet another reason to duck work (you disappoint me by coming up with this one folks...how can I duck.....)

Not for me this mundane lifestyle people. Life in the fast lane just got faster. Fact of the matter is that I was recruited by non other than Agent A (some people refer to her as option A, but that's another story) for a mission which held the possibility of changing the lives of countless individuals (at last ref I remember I could count up to 3, so any larger quantities = countless). Details of this I dont claim to understand or remember, but I do recollect that it involved drowning the valleys in a torrential downpour. The source of this supposed downpour remains foggy in my mind but I dont think the heavens were given this responsibility. I am confusing you I guess... its something that I am myself...so let me bypass this stream of thought.

Why...you must be asking yourselves did Agent A need me for this? Of what possible value could I be on such a mission? Good Questions these... some of the theories doing the rounds are:

• Catalyst to the downpour
• One amongst the countless affected lives.
• Great company, so why not
• My legendary photography and recording skills (basically someone to tom tom Agent A's achievements)

How did I prepare myself for this. Can one ever be prepared? Dont think I know the ans to this one, but I went about by buying batteries, chocolates and lights. Got the mountain shoes out of the cupboard, the thankless creatures proceeded to bite me in return for this favour... so promptly put them back in. Packed some T's and shorts and bought ticks to the capital.

On this note I leave further deliberations and details to part 2.

** If there is any such ancient mountain saying please credit it to me.