Oubaitori

  

Japanese: Oubaitori, comes from the four trees that bloom in spring: cherry blossoms, plum, peach, and apricot. Each flower blooms in its own time, and the meaning behind the phrase / idiom is that we all grow and bloom at our own pace. It acts as a reminder that everyone has their own journey through life, and we should focus on our growth, and not compare ourselves so much to others, and to celebrate your individuality and your uniqueness.

              

Fallen so far behind,

I wonder if I will catch up

With my fellow hikers;

Tshoka’s campground is far away,

Ascending, my legs ache as I realise

How a few kilometres

Can take away all illusions

Of youthfulness

              

Last man in the league

Breathing in my burning lungs

I hold onto a pine tree

And admire the empires of moss;

I dream of the warm Rasna

They promised to serve

At the campground –

Maybe chang in bamboo’s warmth

 

I pity myself, left behind

When the Gods play dice

The clouds clear up

And Mount Pandim appears from nowhere;

Face to face with eternity

There are uncontrolled tears

In a medley of emotions:

Humility, gratitude, thankfulness

 

(They say, He is a minister

But in this pantheon of Bodhisattvas

Who is regent, who is king?

Vizier, ruler, all merged into

The sierra of the Sleeping Buddha;

The pilgrim looks at the grand cathedral

Its arches, vaults and tints

But remembers only God)

 

The clouds come back

As quickly as they parted -

And there is no more sense of destination

My hurriedness has dissolved

In the tears of the devotee -

The Gods come to those

Who struggle behind –

Our pilgrimage a circle with no end

 

I reach campground in a daze

The other hikers

Have reached long ago,

They mock the limper, the most unfit –

Then they go back

To staring at the cloudy western skies

Wishing if, just for a moment

They could get a glimpse of the gods of white…

 

5^th March’ 2025

 

Mount Pandim is a Himalayan peak located in Sikkim, India. It has an elevation of 6,691 m (21,952 ft) above sea level. The name Pandim or Panden means in Lepcha, "The King's Minister", as it is considered to be an attendant on the King of mountains, Kanchenjunga'.

Cover image: Flickr