On foot, I can access those places which most people cannot. The world from those heights looks amazing. From a different angle and a different view, I admire the beauty of the creation of nature. This brings a soothing effect to my mind.
A Walk to Remember and lost in my thoughts
I have crossed the fifth decade of my life and till now walking has kept me away from regular medicines. On foot, I look around and find stories. An aura walks with me, surrounds me always, and makes me lost in my thoughts. Sometimes people see me walking on the road and, they call me and I do not listen to them. It is not that I ignore them. I actually do not listen to them because I am lost in myself.
I used to walk a lot even when I was in Delhi. Every evening, when I was jobless, I would walk to Fatehpuri which was a two-kilometer distance away, to teach a young boy. He remained my good student for two years. Then I found a job with a travel company in South Delhi and stopped giving tuition.
A Walk to Remember and Lost in hills
And now I’m back to my beloved town, and the hills where I can walk to those places where the cars cannot reach. I can walk through the forests, on the trails, up to the snow peaks, down to a stream, to the library, to the bazaar, and of course to the toilet and back to my writing table. Sometimes I am asked by some academic institutions to interact with the students. They surprise when they find that I walked to meet them and interact with them. But I regret that many people of the young generation are not very much inspired by my walking. They love their cars and bike and wish to take them to the nearest to their house or their college. They do walk but only on the restricted road where the government has banned vehicles.
A Walk to Remember in Delhi
When I worked in the travel agency, every evening after leaving my office, I would walk to Safdarjung Airport, two kilometers away, to catch the bus to Chandni Chowk.
‘Why don’t you take the bus from outside the office? Every bus halts here’, advised my colleagues many a time.
I always remained mute at this. They could not understand the concept of taking the same bus from such a faraway place. One day they insisted on this and I said, ‘Every evening I have to get my legs repaired’. One day the bus stopped at India Gate due to some mechanical fault and I walked to Chandni Chowk. The other fellow passengers waited for the next bus but I was helpless as my legs wanted to move, so I moved.
A Walk to Remember in the Evening
In the evening I would walk from my father’s railway quarter, near Old Delhi Railway station, to Rajghat. I had no friends there so I would sit there for some time, miss the hills, curse myself for being in Delhi and then walk back. Sometimes I would walk past Shanti Niketan, towards the fields to find peace, imagining that I was in the hills. But the hills were yet far from me and I have to work hard to be there.
And now I’m back to my beloved town, and the hills where I can walk to those places too where the cars cannot reach. I can walk through the forests, on the trails, up to the snow peaks, down to a stream, to the library, to the bazaar, and of course to the toilet and back to my writing table.
A Walk to Remember to meet the Artist
One day I walked to the university to meet Him Chatterjee, the famous artist. When I reached his office, he was not there. His subordinate informed me that Mr. Chatterjee had gone to the Gaiety Theatre to inaugurate a painting exhibition. He was invited there as a chief guest.
Later he met me at Mall Road and said that he saw me walking towards the university in the morning. He had stopped his car and waved at me. He shouted at me but I did not look at him because perhaps I was busy looking at a monkey and noticing his activities to be mentioned in another story. Him was getting late for his inauguration function so he had moved on.
A Walk to Remember to meet the Station Master
Another day I walked to the Railway Station to meet Sanjay Gera, the Station Master. Sanjay had called me to join him in a meeting that was to welcome and interact with the Railway Divisional Manager. Some suggestions were required to improve the facilities for the tourists traveling by the Toy Train to Shimla. When I reached Sanjay asked me to wait for some time. I agreed and to pass the time I moved around to look for the old steam engine. Then I moved to the lower side of the railway station to look for the railway quarter that had been allotted to my father in the sixties and seventies. I moved on and walked down to Nabha Estate where I, as a child, used to go to play with my friends. I spent good four hours moving around there, looking at the old buildings and reminding those good old days of my childhood and forgot about the meeting with the Divisional Manager. After that, the station master never called me again to attend his meetings.
A Walk to Remember that I started late
My mother told me that I had started walking late in my life. I was nearly three years old when I put my first step. But then I never stopped. This applies to my lifestyle. I take a long time to make any decision to do some work but when I have made up my mind then no one can stop me from achieving my goals. It may take a long time to reach my targets but I do not stop until I have reached them.
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Written by
Sumit Raj, better known as Summit is the founder of Shimla Walks and qualified tourism professional from Delhi University. Summit is a published author with six books to his credit, now. His seventh one titled ‘Shimla Walks’ is on the way and is to be released soon. Summit loves Himalaya and says that ‘Mountains travel in his veins with blood’.
