July 19, 2016, 1125 hrs.

This is the part that I love: mountain-walking. Kaushal stopped worrying the moment he saw me walking up the series of inclines – “Aapko yeh pasand hai.”

Right now I feel like that hill of slate in front of me. It’s shining as it basks in the glory of the cool July sunshine, its tempered black and grey countenance reflecting the millions of years of transformation in extreme heat and extreme cold conditions. The blue sky with the shimmering blanket of rippling wave-like White clouds, sheltering the slate-mountain.

I feel like that as I walk atop these ridges.

Photo: Sanjay Mukherjee