Not sure if I have done anything so consistently as hiking the Marunthuvazh Malai - The last hill of India. As I publish this blog, I completed my second attempt at consecutively hiking this hill for 41 days. Ever grateful to be able to do this. The walk up the hill can be treacherous at times. The usual hike up and down is about 2.8 km in total. 1.4 km each way. The mind plays games and it took me some time to be aware of this.
This is how I would describe an ideal day at the mountain. Starts early in the morning. No, not seeing sunrise level early but waking up at 530ish and starting the trek by 7 am. A cloudy morning with a chill breeze flowing through the mountain. The orange rays of the sun hit some parts of the mountain. Not so hot but the light hitting and reflecting in different parts of the mountain is a sight to behold. Green leaves turn more greenish-yellow with sunlight. I walk seeing through this, picking up the trash the tourists have left behind and putting them in the nearest dustbin.
The initial plan was to write how I felt during these 41 days but I realize I am yet to verbalize this experience. I am still not clear on the list of things it does to me but I do know that it changes me in many aspects. Changes my food, my physique, my mentality, my health, my stamina... all these I am aware of. But deep within I know this is much more. And I hope one day I am able to verbalize this to you. For now, I have two stories of non-human friendships that happened during my 41-day hike in 2022 and 2023.
2022 hike - the monkeys
I spot the habitant monkeys doing their morning routine of going around the hill. Sometimes they just surprise me by standing in the way and not moving even after I ask and move only after I feed them their daily snack. I wonder at times, if can I put a camera on them for a day or two and see where they go within the hill. What do they do here? Their secret spots on the hill.
I know that day might not be far away coz we are becoming friends now. Yes, I've started talking to them. Asking them to move, not to touch my things, not to open the empty bottles from the dustbin the fling the caps away🙄. Asking them to come to me and wait until I give them food. Earlier we used to watch each other from a distance. Usually from a high raise within Maruthuval malai. I didn't know how many days they have been watching me pass by.
I don't know what they know about me by now. They have a way to handle me now. I can see this. They don't scare me every day. But they scare me once in a few days. Actually, I don't know if it's a scare but they show their teeth, run towards me and show action as if they will pounce on me. All this is happening in front of the monkey god himself, Hanuman. Jai Hanuman! I say and bow down to start my descent down the hill. Later the man who sells buttermilk on the hill revealed this act of monkey love. Their way of showing love is to show their teeth and pounce. Strange! I thought to myself. But yeah what was I expecting from a monkey? Smile? 🤣
2023 hike - the Black dog
The monkeys haven't come this season. The habitant ones were gone long back said the residents. I spotted a few Langurs that are mostly passersby so didn't have any interactions with them. Had one funny incident when one langur spotted me from a hilltop, screamed at me, and alerted the rest of the gang. They ran for their lives 😂.
It was on the first day of this year's hike I saw this little black dog. Usually, the dogs on the hill do not hike to the peak. But this one did on my very first day. I didn't have anything to feed her that day but she wouldn't come near me either. Was very scared. On the second day of the hike, I made sure to carry some biscuits for her and she continued to hike with me.
The relationship got better as days went by. Now we are friends. Off the 41 days of the hike, she hiked at least 39 days with me to the peak. Today we have a mandatory petting session as soon as we meet at the bottom of the hill, followed by a few biscuits and then the hike to the peak. On the way to the peak when I stop to catch a breath the little fellow goes wandering and I have started to realize she knows more places, spots, and caves in the hill now. I did walk with her to two new places that I haven't been to before. She probably knows more about the hill by now. She knows the hangout spots of the mongoose and squirrels. And she has secret places for storing the biscuits when she is too full to eat.
In 2022, when I was getting closer to the 41st day of the hike I was anxious. What will happen to the monkeys, will they remember me the next time they see me, will someone feed them, maybe if I come every day they will be more friends with me..etc. The monkeys are gone but my anxiety remains. This time it's the black dog.
❤️❤️❤️