Scrolling through your Instagram feed, you come across pictures of the great outdoors posted by friends and family. High-tech digital cameras capture images that make you yearn for those adventurous trips. But you’ve made promises you need to keep: job, home, children and family. You let out a sigh watching those reels the umpteenth time and get back to your desk job.
Being in nature is good for our physical, mental and emotional health. However, given a choice, most of us opt for a leisurely holiday with an overdose of creature comforts as opposed to a trek in the mountains. An oft-cited reason: why slog in the wild when you could be pampered in civilization?
But nature has its own way of pampering. Fresh air, solitude and verdant landscapes help you relax and rejuvenate the way no massages with fragrant oils can. Trekking in the mountains is one of the most satisfying ways to experience nature: picture yourself walking up a narrow dirt track. On your right you see imposing mountain ranges and on your left your arm grazes a rock façade covered with moss, ferns and leaves in different hues of green. You tread cautiously to avoid trampling tiny daisies in yellow and white. Crisp mountain air fills your lungs and the sound of a distant stream beckons you to dip your hands and feet in. All your senses are in a state of ecstasy, and you feel lucky to be alive to experience this. This and much more is what trekking has to offer you.
Apprehensions are understandable; modern life is far removed from nature and living in the wilderness seems like an alien task to most. You wonder if you are even fit enough for such an endeavor. Trekking requires only a basic level of fitness. All you need is a trusted mentor who can gauge your fitness level and prepare a training program for you so that you can enjoy the mountains without being bogged down by physical discomfort. When you trek with PinkBoots, you will be guided by an experienced and certified trainer in a workout routine to get you trek-ready.
Being fit not only helps in walking long distances on uneven terrain, but also helps survive a few days in difficult weather conditions with just the bare essentials. It is true that relieving yourself in the open or sleeping on the ground can put stress on your body, but all of it becomes worthwhile with one look at the star-studded night sky.
Another thing that makes trekking worthwhile is the hands-on training you get on sustainability. As city-dwellers, sustainability for us begins and ends with garbage segregation and cloth bags. With our garbage out of our sight first thing in the morning we do not realize the urgency and importance of adopting sustainable living practices like judicious use of resources, consuming locally sourced produce, and recycling. In the wild, you are your own garbage collector. That apart, witnessing the damage human activities have done to the mountains, you wouldn’t want to further contribute towards it and you realize the importance of judicious use of resources. Also, a core value of PinkBoots: enjoy the sights and sounds of nature, but leave it undisturbed.
There might be restrictions on the use of resources, but no restrictions on the fun that you can have up in the mountains. And with Niti at the helm of PinkBoots, fun is never far behind. Up there, it’s just you and your trekking-mates — away from the prying eyes of friends and families, you can let your hair loose and discover the hidden side of you. Group dynamics also work differently when a bunch of humans come together in unfamiliar surroundings. The trust between trekking-mates is at a different level altogether, because you are dependent on each other for survival. A perfect set-up to build lasting bonds. What’s more, the mountains are perfect for solitude and soul-searching.
Pavitra Baxi
41 | Translator | Bangalore