This year, I misjudged my endurance level and stayed away from the mountains for too long. Not only did I delay indulging in my fix of the snow-covered heights, I even minimised the short weekend treks in the Sahayadris with Odati that usually alleviate the longing. By Feb, I was itching to go back to the mountains. Stuck in traffic jams, every so often I would feel a hollow fist clench in my stomach as I thought of being surrounded by solitude and snow, soaking in the fresh air and silence instead of petrol fumes and the raucous blaring of car horns; every link to Kodak Gallery or Picassa that people sent with their holiday snaps would throw me into fits of jealousy and longing.
These symptoms vanished and were replaced by anticipation once I obtained leave from work and started planning a holiday. As D-Day approached, excitement mounted until I finally took off with friends for a vacation in the hills of Kumaon.
Though I had a great vacation that quenched the mountain withdrawal symptoms (for at least a few months, I hope) I found I had to cope with a new set of symptoms when I returned. My stomach, which since childhood had been able to deal with anything thrown into it and had performed it’s duties without a murmur of discontent under all kinds of conditions, now started acting fussy. It would rumble and grumble throughout the day, even with plain home food – almost as if it was having difficulty acclimatising to the humble low altitude.
To make things worse, I had returned with a humongous appetite – thanks to ten days of walking for hours in the cold and pigging out on yummy food secure in the knowledge that I was burning off all the calories. Now I still had the same voracious appetite, except that the temperamental stomach that ached with hunger would grumble petulantly the minute I actually ate anything! It took me ten days to get my appetite back to normal – ten days in which I ate much more fruit and soya than I wanted to in order to ensure that my supersized appetite did not result in too much weight gain.
To add to the petulant stomach, I had a non-cooperating mind. For a few days, my head felt heavy and woozy and I could not fully focus my thoughts – it felt as if I was wading through an ocean of cotton. A few hours of struggling to work in office and I was totally drained out – one would think I was attempting some major ascent instead of just clearing the mail that had piled up in the last week! I finally returned to normal after using a solution a much-travelled well-wisher shared with me – start thinking about where to go for your next vacation.
Moral of the story – Work is done best in between planning vacations
By,
Zen
