If you cannot find Himalaya..

If you cannot find Himalaya,

Seek its presence all around you,

Seek for the hills, the knolls, the mounts

Even in this land of the towering few

Seek in the heart of the austral alps,

Seek in the voids of the Mungo bleaks,

Seek in the winds and the bogong moths,

As you talk to spirits on the Kosciusko peaks,

So what they be wizened not in white,

There are clouds atop each mighty crest,

There Mount Gower, Lidgbird brood in grey,

Their peaks the same old sacred quest

And when you stare up at these heights,

Feel humbled, mortal, yet sublime

And in that moment, find Himalaya

Inside of you, silent all the time…

6th January, 2021

Who would know I would find a piece of my long sought for inner peace, far from the mountains, in a nondescript island far away in the desolation of the Pacific? I was in tiny Lord Howe Island, 200 km from Sydney - wherever you go on this tiny 10km long island, you are bound to be overshadowed by the two local behemoths, Mount Gower and Mount Lidgbird, only 875m and 780m in height. Though tiny in their elevation, they are full of jade forests and sharp precipices, and one morning, their twin heads were crowned with a fascinating lenticular cloud soaked in pensive shades of grey. In that moment of enigma, and melancholy, it made me feel little, insignificant and humbled, the same feeling that comes when you are standing in front of the mighty Kanchenjunga or the towering Trishul. It was then that I realised that yes, nothing compares to the mighty Himalaya, yet sometimes, in a fleeting moment of a cloudy day, you can quiver in that same feeling of overwhelm as you stand thousands of miles away. Under the shade of a hill that resonates with you and reminds you to be humbled. The long cherished memories of the mountains are then, not just vivid images, they are more importantly, an emotion, a feeling, a meditative breath that sends shivers up your chakras. And sometimes, all it takes is a hill, way tinier, but still towering enough, to make you feel alive all over again. All because that feeling called the Himalaya, always resides deep inside of you, everyday all the time...