I was still ancy being so far away from my Uttar Pradesh. But the weather was beautiful and breezy, a zen paradise high above the busy villages below. The greens shimmered through my window as dawn came over my room. The cows were up and I could hear their bells ringing from the north side of the house. I knew Mama, as I called Manzoor's mom, was downstairs baking fresh bread and preparing our tea. I came downstairs and had breakfast with Asif. Manzoor came down soon after and we left for tours of the entire city of Srinagar. I sat in the passenger seat, just simply in awe of everything. I tried to explain to Manzoor that seeing this part of India, the religion, the faith, the kindness, the beauty, all of it inspires such intense gratitude that it made me want to cry each time. India is what I imagine it is like to drive through South Africa and not through the touristy areas, but through the villages where life begins and ends for people of such simple joys and pains, far removed from the material attachments of the Western world.This was a day filled with rapt spiritual awareness. I wanted to see more, deep into the remote part of the Himalayas, but my time was not long enough. I knew however, that no matter what it took, for my birthday I was to spend it climbing into the Himalayas, at least where I could kneel and give thanks as close to God as possible. Beauty, beauty everywhere, and still none of the words to describe it.
It was in the evening one night, while having dinner with the family, that I mentioned to Mohammed, Manzoor's father, that I wanted him to take me trekking into the mountains of the Himalayas.
"It's going to be my birthday gift to myself," I proudly stated.
His eyes lit with joy, but he warned me that it was a long trip that needed to be seriously coordinated if I were serious. I restated my enthusiasm and we began to plan my day's itinerary. Mohammed is a professional guide into the Himalayas, often a tour leader into the deepest and highest parts of the mountains where he leads hikers on trips. I didn't have the 3 weeks to go to the top of the Himalayas, however, I could go to Pahalgam, where it was considered to be "Paradise on Earth" which is what all the signs were referring to at the airports.
We stopped along the way and took photos of a rushing waterfall, and other unbelievable sights through the countryside.
