Most of us have been so busy racing through the city lights that sometimes we are unable to appreciate the true beauty of our planet. One way to connect with Mother Earth is to experience the chilling yet beautiful life in the mountains. The mountains are one of the few places left that have not been drastically affected by human civilization and the technological advancements we all are chasing.
The real beauty of mountains can be truly felt in person, but I’ll try to paint a picture through my experience of my trip to Darjeeling. Mim was a tiny village with a vast tea garden around where I started my journey in the mountains. There, I learned the ins and outs of a tea estate. To begin with, the amount of natural beauty you would see just on your way to the estate from the airport is surreal. The entire path is covered with rare flora and fauna under a fresh blue sky against the backdrop of sky-kissing mountain peaks.
Once there, I was amazed by the background work that goes into the production of tea, the same tea we sip so comfortably from our couches, being prepared with hard work under rough conditions. The people are so dedicated to their work and meeting their individual targets for the production cycle and have to do all of this with the limited supply of resources available to them. Watching them I felt inspired and became more grateful for the life we have. To work in such cold weather and tough terrain without being truly recognized or appreciated is indeed praiseworthy.
All the people work together and live in harmony, virtually disconnected from the rush and noise of the cities we all have become so accustomed to. The place is beautiful because of all the scenery but also for the people who inhabit it.
From Mim, I went to Kalimpong and then to Darjeeling. On my journey, I met many people and got to know their stories. From the cooks (the food here is just amazing!) to the different shopkeepers, everyone has made the mountains their home, in their own unique way and I can only admire how beautiful their stories are, written around the rocky roads of the mountains.
We must all be grateful for the life we have and aspire to improve as human beings. Even with all the difficulties they face daily, the people I met in the mountains seemed happy whereas most of the people enjoying the worldly pleasures of the cities are stressed and dissatisfied with their lives. This contrast asks the question, “What does it really mean to live a happy and fulfilling life?”. The answer might lie in life in the mountains which teaches a simple but profound truth – “Always be content with what you have”.